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SAN FRANCISCO 

Alt NORMAL SCHOOL 

BULLETIN No. 10 

NEW SERIES 



A COURSE Of STUDY AND 
TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK IN THE 
COMMON LITERATURE Of LIFE 


ALLISON WARE 


















COURSES Of STUDY FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

ISSUED BY THE 

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT SAN FRANCISCO. 


No. 1 (new series).—A Course of Study in Primary Language and Hand¬ 
book to the State Series Text; paper bound, 109 pages. By Effie B. 
McFadden. (Out of print; see Bulletin No 9.) 

No. 2 (new series).—A Course of Study in Primary Arithmetic and Hand¬ 
book to the State Series Text; paper bound. 166 pages. By David 
Rhys Jones. Price, postpaid, 30 cents. 

No. 3 (new series).—A Course of Study for the Teaching of Reading to 
Beginners and Plandbook to the State Series Primer and First 
Reader; paper bound, 76 pages. Price, postpaid, 30 cents. (Out 
of print; see Bulletin No. 8). * 

No. 4 (new series);—A Course of Study in Map Geography; paper bound, 
52 pages. By Allison Ware. Price, postpaid, 30 cents. 

Outline Maps. —In connection with Bulletin No. 4, the school publishes a series 
of nine outline maps from which pupils may trace outlines for use in location. 
These maps are 9 by 12 inches in size. They represent the following areas : 
North America, South America, Europe. Asia. Africa, Australia, United States, 
California and the hemispheres. Price, postpaid, for set of nine, 15 cents. 

No. 5 (new series).—A Course of Study in Literature for the Grammar 
Grades; paper bound, 103 pages. By Allison Ware. Price, post¬ 
paid, 30 cents. 

No. 6 (niew series).—A Course of Study in Grammar and Handbook to 
the State Series Text; paper bound, 89 pages. By Frederic Burk 
and Effie B. McFadden. Price, postpaid, 30 cents. 

No. 7 (new series).-—A Course of Study in History and Handbook to the 
State Series Advanced Text, paper bound, 162 pages. By Archibald 
B. Anderson. Price, postpaid, 30 cents. 

No. 8 (new series).—A Course of Study in the Teaching of Reading and 
Handbook to the State Series Second, Third, and Fourth Readers ; 
paper bound, 115 pages. By Alma Patterson. Price, postpaid, 
30 cents. 

No. 9 (new series).—A Course of Study in Language; 174 pages. By 
Effie Belle McFadden. Price, postpaid . 30 cents, for paper bound; 
or 55 cents, cloth bound. 

No. 10 (new series).—A Course of Study and Teachers’ Handbook in the 
Common Literature of Life; 207 pages, paper bound. Bv Allison 
Ware. Price, postpaid, 40 cents. 

The following courses of study are now in preparation: 

A Course of Study in Arithmetic. (This will include a revision of Bulletin No. 2. and 
will also embrace the complete work of the grammar grades.) By David Rhys 
Jones, Supervisor of the Teaching of Arithmetic. (Ready about Christmas, 1909.) 

A Course of v Study in Composition. By Anna Wiebalk, Supervisor of the Teaching of 
Composition. 

A Course of Study in Geography. By Allison Ware, Supervisor of the Teaching of 
Geography. 

Address: BULLETIN FUND, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 

Buchanan and Waller Streets, 

San Francisco. 

Payment may be made by check, money order, or stamps. 



i" rv * c • v-l "■* ■ T ' 

SAN FRANCISCO STATE. NORMAL SCHOOL 

BULLETIN No. 10 (New Series) 


A COURSE or STUDY AND TEACH¬ 
ERS’ HANDBOOK IN THE COMMON 
LITERATURE OF LIFE * ^ 


By ALLISON WARE 

Supervisor of the Teaching of Literature, 
San Francisco State Normal School. 


» 


9 


5ACRAMLNTO 


W. W. SHANNON 


1 909 


SUPERINTENDENT OF STATE PRINTING 










Copyright, 19 fiO 

BY 

Allison Ware 



gCLA»S^875 



A WORD TO SUPERINTENDENTS, COURSE OE 
STUDY MAKERS, AND TEACHERS. 


Over a year ago the State Normal School at San Francisco published a 
Course of Study in Literature for Grammar Grades prepared by the author 
of this handbook. That course in literature undertook to suggest a way by 
which the teacher could win for her pupils the best possible values from 
material already in common use in the schools of California. It was based 
upon the conviction that the sterility of the traditional work in this subject 
could be mitigated by the use of sensible methods. 

The methods therein proposed have been applied to the content selected 
for this new course. No claim of novelty is made for them. They are as old 
as the art of the story-teller. Neither can they boast of ingenious com¬ 
plexity. The father who draws his bo 3 r s and girls around him for the story 
hour knows them all without being taught. Appreciation is their watch¬ 
word,—the appreciation that comes from a full, rich, vivid enjoyment and 
understanding of the lore which they unfold. This course of study, as well 
as the earlier one, has merely applied to classroom use the old, old ways, 
deep rooted in human practice, by which the interpreter opens the hearts 
of his hearers to the call of his story. 

The place of these simple methods in the teaching of school literature 
is assured. Teachers are coming to see the folly of the elaborate com¬ 
plexities of procedure which have destroyed the pleasure as well as the 
worth of their w T ork. They are beginning to know that the teaching of liter¬ 
ature should not mean a grind of authors’ lives, an analysis of language 
forms, or routine practice in oral reading. The force of evil habit may still 
hold many of us in its grip, but for all that there are few who are still to be 
found to hold a brief for the pedantries of method which have made barren 
of real results the teaching of a subject which should be rich in living values. 

One step more remains to be taken before literature in the school shall 
yield its full return. The content, as well as the method, must be reorgan¬ 
ized. It, too, must be shorn of its pedantries. The time has come to draw 
the issue squarely on this point: the course should consist of that literature 
which has exerted the strongest and simplest appeal upon the hearts of 
mankind. Once for all we must recognize that it is idle, and worse than 
idle, to attempt to arouse the first love of children for literature by means 
of poems, novels, essays and plays which are clear beyond the appreciation 
of the mass of book loving adults. 



This course of study presents a content in literature new to the curriculum 
of our schools, but old in the affections of the great heart of humanity. It 
holds out to the boys and girls of the new generation those stories and poems 
which have long claimed, by virtue of the strength of their appeal, first 
place in the spontaneous appreciations of the race. Here is the literature 
which every child should know, and which every child will love to know: 
the literature of life,—simple, rugged, wholesome, deep-rooted in our com¬ 
mon culture. It belongs to us as it did to our fathers, and it should be handed 
down to our children after us; for it lies at the heart of our heritage of 
literature. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


PART I. 

Page. 

CHAP. I: LIFE AND THE COMMON SCHOOL_ _ _ 7-10 

The Work of the Elementary School_ _ 7 

The Demand for Greater Efficiency__ ___ 7-8 

The Curriculum in Need of an Overhauling - _ 8 

Constructive Effort, the Order of the Day___ 9 

School Literature Especially in Need of Reform. __ 9-10 

CHAP. II: COMMON SCHOOL WORK IN LITERATURE: TRUE VALUES vs. 

TRADITIONS- __ 1 11-27 

Our Heritage of Literature and Its Value_ _ _ 11-12 

Its Uncertain Place in the Curriculum__ 13 

The Traditional Content of the Literature Course_ 13-17 

The Traditional Method of Teaching Literature_ _ 17-20 

Origin of the Traditional Methods in Literature_ 21-23 

Results Real and Alleged_ _ 23-26 

Wanted: A Love of Good Books_ _ _ 26 

Promises Unfulfilled_ 26-27 

CHAP. Ill: A PLAN FOR THE WORK_ _ _28-38 

Aims and Purposes of the Course_ 28-30 

The Contents of the Course_ 30-32 

Sound Methods__ 32-38 

CHAP. IV: PLEASURE READING AND GOOD READING HABITS_39-45 

The Value of Good Reading Habits_ . _ 39-40 

Readimg Habits as a Definite Aim._ _ _ 40-42 

How to Stimulate Pleasure Reading_ __ 42-45 

Books for Pleasure Reading and Teacher’s Preparation__46-48 


PART II. 

IN THE BEGINNING_ __ _ 49 

HERCULES, FRIEND AND HELPER OF MEN_ _ 54 

THE ADVENTURES OF THESEUS_ _ _ _ 61 

HOW PERSEUS KILLED THE MEDUSA_ _ ___ 64 

THE ARGONAUTS AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE_ _ 66 

COLUMBUS_ 69 

OTHER SHORT POEMS 


71 


































Page. 


HOW CADMUS BUILT A CITY AND GAVE MEN THE ALPHABET_ 73 

BAUCIS AND PHILEMON: HOSPITALITY AND ITS REWARD_ 75 

HOW MIDAS FOUND SOMETHING WORTH MORE THAN GOLD--- 77 

THE TROJAN WAR______ 80 

THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES...__ 88 

THE PERSIAN WAR: MARATHON AND THERMOPYLAE_ 91 

DAMON AND PYTHIAS __ .1.____ 99 

THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES__ 101 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT___ 104 

THE ADVENTURES OF .ENEAS___ 108 

IIORATIUS AT THE BRIDGE AND OTHER EARLY ROMAN LEGENDS_ 112 

HANNIBAL, ROME’S GREATEST ENEMY__ 119 

THE STORY OF BRUTUS AND C.ESAR_ 124 

STORIES OF ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS___ 131 

OLD IRONSIDES _____J_ 143 

ALFRED, THE GOOD KING__ 145 

HAROLD, LAST OF THE SAXONS AND WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR_ 148 

RICHARD THE LION HEARTED AND THE CRUSADES_1_ 153 

SHERIDAN’S RIDE _ 159 

IVAN HOE___:__i__ 161 

KING JOHN AND THE MAGNA CHARTA__ ... :_ 171 

WILLIAM TELL_ 173 

ARNOLD OF WINKELR1ED_ 175 

A LEGEND OF BERGENZ_ 177 

JOAN OF ARC_ 178 

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX. _ 182 

SCOTCH HERO STORIES_ 184 

THE STORY OF THE ARMADA, AND THE “REVENGE”_ 197 

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE AND THE STORY OF THE RED 

CROSS SOCIETY_ 201 

THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM _ 205 




































PART I 


CHAPTER I. 

LIPE AND THE COMMON SCHOOL. 


THE WORK OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 

$ 

The common schools exist for a definite purpose. Their business is to give 
to every boy and girl of the land that preparation for life which common 
experience has shown to be of essential value to all. This means that the 
common schools must distribute to all the knowledge that life experience 
shows to be useful to all; that they must yield a certain wealth of culture 
which the world has found place for; and that they must give to every mem¬ 
ber of each new generation those mental and emotional attitudes which have 
molded and characterized our civilization. 

All this is no paltry work. Indeed, there is no work equal to it in dignity 
or importance in the whole field of education. It is the basis for intelligent 
contact with the world through speech, writing or action. Our common 
business relations, our standards of appreciation of literature, of the play, 
of the nation’s past, of morals and manners depend largely upon it. It is the 
very foundation of nationalism. It is the cement binding the heterogeneous 
elements of society into a true social structure. 

Neither is it a work which can be done in haphazard or uncertainty. 
Every course in the curriculum must bear its part in the general plan. Each 
must be based upon a certain knowledge as to just what portion of the total 
result it can contribute. Its aim must be clearly marked out; its content 
must be selected with the attainment of that end always in view; its meth¬ 
ods must be devised so as to insure the attainment of its purpose; and the 
results must be able to show upon inspection that the whole process has 
accomplished what it undertook. Without a sound conception of the great 
purpose for which common schools exist, and without careful organization of 
the curriculum for the attainment of that purpose, we can not hope to accom¬ 
plish anything like satisfactory results in this greatest of all educational 
undertakings. 

THE DEMAND FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY. 

At the present time the problem of improving the efficiency of our common 
schools as trainers for life is mote keenly before the minds of teachers than it 
has been for generations. Many proposed reforms,—some of demonstrated 
value and others speculative in their worth,—are on foot in the effort toward 

(7) 



improvement. Better systems of supervision are being urged. The demand 
for expert teachers under fair conditions of tenure and salary is increasing. 
Compulsory education laws are being enacted. Manual, mechanical and 
agricultural branches are being wedged into the course of study. And 
finally, the whole traditional content of the common school curriculum is 
being examined to determine its worth, to the end that its futilities may be 
diminished and its values increased. Along all lines of special interest, in 
every direction of educational enterprise, the situation is tense with criticism, 
discussion, and proposed reform. 

It is well for us as public servants that this is so. Society is beginning to 
learn what it should get from its institutions. It is beginning to examine 
the worth of their results. From the transcontinental railroad, the labor 
union, the city government, the common school system,—from all its institu¬ 
tions, great and small,—it is demanding a return proportionate to the abili¬ 
ties of each. Indeed, it would seem that the people at large are beginning 
to assume in fact that which our American theories have all along fancied to 
be theirs: a sense of individual responsibility for the well being and worth 
of the institutions which they maintain. And already there is abundant 
evidence that this sense of responsibility is turning the white light of public 
attention upon the schools. Their promises and results are being com¬ 
pared. Their theories and practices are being placed side by side. As never 
before in their history, they are being subjected to critical examination; and 
as never before they are receiving the wholesome judgment of an awakened 
public intelligence. 

Therefore, while there is yet time, let us put our schools in order. Let us 
put them in order because they need it; and if this be not sufficient reason 
to stir us, then let us put them in order because the world at large is rapidly 
coming to know that they need it,—and to form its own conclusions of us 
and our work in the light of that knowledge. 


THE CURRICULUM NEEDS AN OVERHAULING. 

First in urgency and importance of all the things which we might do to 
increase the efficiency of our common schools is a thorough overhauling of 
the curriculum. It is high time that each subject found in it should stand 
and make answer in plain terms as to just what part it plays in preparing 
boys and girls for life. Then, as a result of such examination, false goals 
must be abandoned; unfulfilled promises must be redeemed or promptly 
given up; worthless content must be discarded; fruitless methods must be 
thrown out. And this is the least of what must be done. Line by line, there 
must be built out of all that remains of tested worth in the old and with such 
new values as sound judgment shall dictate a new curriculum. It must be a 
curriculum whose purpose, content, method and result shall conform to such 
standards of efficiency as an earnest body of skilled workers may, in self- 
respect, set for their labors: a standard of efficiency which shall not be found 
wanting when tested by society, in whose name and for whose preservation 
all schools exist. 


(8) 


Progressive superintendents, principals, and teachers everywhere are look¬ 
ing for such constructive efforts as shall vitalize the curriculum and insure 
its* results in life values. They know that much of the traditional content is 
dead wood; that much of it has no place in the life needs of the masses; that 
it is of interest and value only to the specialist. They know that many of 
the traditional methods are not adapted to win values of common worth 
from such content as does exist; that emphasis is often wrongly placed; that 
false leads have been exploited; that subjects are all too frequently taught 
instead of children. And they know, also, that tested by the best test of 
all,—namely, actual results,—much of the work is without avail. Many of 
its boasted results remain unattained. Some are proved to be clearly unat¬ 
tainable. And results actually achieved are often empty victories, without 
profit to the children and hence withodt credit to the schools. 

School workers, striving for a better curriculum, have lost interest in the 
hair-splittings and chaff-beatings of the pedagogical scholastics. They have 
submitted peacefully for the last time to that intellectual anaesthetic,—the 
vacuous “ Begs-leave-to-report — 99 of the special subcommittee. They have 
winnowed and sifted the wisdom which theorists have passed down to them 
from on high. And now they demand action. Evasions are no longer in 
order with them. Excuses are no longer acceptable. Oracular utterances 
from the wise; nebulous theories based upon the suspicions of psychology; 
scholastic pedantries girt with their hoary superstitions: all these have lost 
their pow r er to conjure or to charm. 

For the leaders in good works among the school workers of the day have 
their faces set toward a splendid goal. They know that the common schools 
should prepare boys and girls for the common uses of life; they know that 
the curriculum needs reorganization for the attainment of this end; and their 
demand is now for constructive reform. Those who are so far and lone in 
the desert of tradition and hold their heads so stoutly thrust therein as to 
fail to hear this rising demand of the age must be left behind. The caravan 
has waited for them through a weary night. Now it has orders to march. 
It has business ahead at the great oasis,—the oasis of life where the well- 
springs of things useful are found,—the oasis where common sense shall yet 
find all things needful for the schools of the children of men. 


SCHOOL WORK IN LITERATURE, ESPECIALLY IN NEED OF 

REFORM. 

The work of reorganizing the curriculum of the elementary school so that 
it will yield life values and nothing else is well under way. In arithmetic, 
reading, history, geography, language work and other subjects considerable 
has already been done in the way of aligning the course to right standards. 
These subjects are, therefore, becoming more and more worth while in the 
general work of preparing young people for life. But the subject whose 
need of an overhauling is greater than all the rest has remained almost with¬ 
out constructive criticism and wholly without constructive efforts at reor¬ 
ganization. 


(9) 


Our school work in literature still remains a confusion of tangled doctrine 
and worse tangled practice. 

Every fundamental question which one might ask concerning the litera¬ 
ture work of our grammar schools is either unanswered by the varying 
practices of the day, or is answered in such vague, unconvincing and often 
contradictory terms that no one can feel any confidence in the answer. 
Consider the following inquiries for a moment: In what grades should 
literature be taught ? What is the best selection of content for the course ? 
By what methods should it be taught? What results should be gained? 
What are the actual results of our work? What is the proper relation 
of school literature to formal reading, oral expression, composition, moral 
training, biography, to the study of language forms, to a knowledge of 
the meaning of allusions found in great masterpieces, to the common uses 
of life? Until these questions and their like are answered and answered 
right, our school course in literature must continue to toss hither and yon,— 
like a dismantled hull without sail, chart or compass,—the sport of every 
passing pedagogical whim. 


(10) 


CHAPTER II. 


COMMON SCHOOL WORK IN LITERATURE: TRUE 
VALUES VS. TRADITIONS. 


This handbook aims to present a course of study in literature which will 
answer the questions just propounded. It aims to place the subject upon a 
dividend paying basis. Its content is based upon one simple proposition, 
namely, that the common schools should give to the children of each new 
generation the knowledge, culture, and appreciation of that literature which 
has become a part of our common heritage. Let us see just what this means. 

OUR HERITAGE OF LITERATURE. 

There are certain stories, legends, and poems which belong to us all. 
Some of these, such as the old Greek myths, come down to us from our 
earliest literary beginnings,—tales of gods and men in which are found those 
simple ideals whereby mankind first struggled into the stature of manhood. 
To these have been added, one by one through the passing centuries, certain 
splendid stories which appeal to and strengthen the best traits in our human 
nature. Still others we have accepted from the pens of story-tellers and 
poets of these later days. But whether recent or remote in origin, whether 
poetry or prose, whether inspired by the mind of a genius or born of the 
genius of the folk, they are all one in spirit,—for they all have the power 
to grip and hold the human heart. 

It is this literature, world-worn yet ever fresh, which this course proposes 
to present to children. It offers to them the old, old stories, which every 
one knows: stories of Hercules, and the Trojan War, and Alexander the 
Great; of King Arthur and Chivalry, and Richard the Lion; of William 
Tell and Joan of Arc and the Scotch Heroes; of Magna Charta and the 
Crusades and the Romance of the Sea. Here are the great myths of our 
parent civilizations: tales of wonder and marvel, exploits of heroes, epics of 
dawning nationalism. Here are the records which the race has preserved of 
its great dramas: stories wherein the Marathons of the past live forever. 
And here, too, may be found the golden deeds of the world’s great leaders: 
tales of those whose lives stand as pillars of light,—whose sacrifice or good 
faith or splendid courage still live, undimmed by time, in the memories of 
men. 

VALUE OF LITERATURE IN LIFE AND IN THE SCHOOL. 

What values may we expect such a body of literature to yield? We need 
not guess at an answer. We need not trust to hopes or theories or vain- 

( 11 ) 



glorious promises in order to say. For life has proved its values. 1 he world 
has tried and tested its worth through the centuries. We need only to mark 
what this literature of the people has done all through the past generations 
to know what values it holds for the generations of to-day and of to-morrow. 

These things above all others it has done: It has furnished a large share 
of the world’s culture. It has solidified for nations their national lore and 
given races their traditions. It has developed and sustained those attitudes 
of mind and heart which stand at the foundation of our civilization. It has 
subjected each member of society to a series of emotional experiences which 
have helped to lift him to the level of the world of men. Thus, it has kept 
the individual with his nation, loyal to his race, in touch with the best 
standards and ideals of life by giving him the viewpoint of his fellows,—by 
bringing him within the scope of that which has molded and humanized 
his race. And at all times it has been a source of pleasure. Ever since men 
have been men the bard and story-teller have been chief among entertainers. 

Let us imagine a man cut off from all the literature that passes current 
in the world around him. Suppose that he has never by literary proxy 
fought at Thermopylae, or held the Tiber Bridge or stood for knightly honor 
with the heroes of Arthur, or forced a charter from King John or suffered 
and triumphed with William Tell and Joan of Arc, or felt the call to 
splendid action ringing in the rhythm of the heroic ballads of his mother 
tongue; suppose in short that he has never enjoyed and felt the meaning of 
the myths and legends, poems, stories, and inspired interpretations which 
live in the hearts of those about him: what sort of a creature would such a 
one be? Suppose, further, that he is endowed with all else that education 
can supply: still he is far from being a man in fellowship with his kind. He 
has varied from the kindly race of men. He is a thing apart, an outcast and 
a lonely thing, unsocial, unhuman, a product of his own feeble clash with 
environment, emotionally the result of his own paltry experiences. 

To prevent such a condition is the function of literature in life and in the 
schoolroom. Our purpose, therefore, should be to give to each individual 
the knowledge, the culture, the mental and emotional attitudes which come 
from an appreciation of the world’s best loved literature. Each child must be 
brought into touch with the characters, situations, problems, and issues that 
literature has presented to his kind. The wealth of story and story apprecia¬ 
tion that has become a part of the common heritage of his race must be 
poured out for him. 

Surely, such a work should have no mean place in the common schools 
whose business is to give each child of the land his share of the things which 
life experience shows to be needful to all. 

Before asking any one to believe in the worth of the course indicated 
above and planned out in the following pages, or even to accept the general¬ 
ization upon which it has been worked out, it is no more than fair that we 
should examine somewhat in detail the condition of literature teaching as it 
reveals itself in the practices of our schools. Such an examination will reveal 
to us the manner in which the work is actually being carried on. Then we 


(12) 


shall be able to draw such conclusions as to the worth or futility of the work 
done, and concerning the character of the work that should be done, as the 
facts may warrant. 

THE PLACE HELD BY LITERATURE IN THE CURRICULUM. 

The first fact that strikes one who examines a number of our varying 
courses of study in literature is this: Literature stands alone among other 
standard subjects of the curriculum in having no definite, traditional place 
set aside for it. To be sure, all schools claim to teach it, and in nearly all 
courses of study it claims in its own name a share of the time in certain 
grades. But there is no general agreement as to the amount of time it 
should have. In some schools it appears in all the grades from fifth to eighth 
inclusive. In others, the last three grammar years contain it. Still others 
give it place during the last two years. And there are many schools where 
the eighth grade alone finds room for it. In only a few courses of study it 
does not appear at all as an independent subject. In such cases, however, it 
is understood that it will receive some sort of indirect attention in connection 
with the work in oral reading or composition. 

This condition of discordant usage in the matter of the time to be devoted 
to literature is a self-evident absurdity. If literature is worth a place in the 
curriculum at all it is because it has certain values of fundamental worth to 
all comers. These fundamental values are as vital to the preparation for 
life of the children in our cities as in the country, in one county as in 
another. It would seem to be self-evident that if they are essentially worth 
while in the education of all, then they should be distributed to all; and if 
literature has no such values, then it should not claim a place in the pre¬ 
scribed work of the common schools. 

But, in another light, the confusion though not justifiable is explainable. 
Course of study makers and users seem to be pretty much in the dark as to 
the worth and nature of the subject which they label literature. It is a 
name that covers a multitude of educational perplexities and confusions. 
Hence, it is no wonder that school folk hardly know what place to give it in 
the curriculum. Confusion in the matter of time allotment is merely a 
natural consequence of the general confusion which surrounds it. 

THE TRADITIONAL CONTENT. 

The content of our elementary course in literature has come to have a 
traditional character. Although different schools adopt different selections 
as a basis for the work, there are certain ones which stand clearly marked as 
favorites. From them we may fairly judge of the content as a whole, for 
they are typical of the rest of it. The following have been noted as selections 
most commonly found in the schools of California: Evangeline, Hiawatha, 
Miles Standish, Snow-Bound, Rip Van Winkle, The Lady of the Lake, The 
Merchant of Venice, Enoch Arden, The Great Stone Face, The Alhambra, 
Sir Roger de Coverley Papers, The Christmas Carol, Translations of 

(13) 


Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. One of the longer of these selections, sometimes 
garnished with two or three short poems, is the usual apportionment for a 
half-year’s work. Most of our courses are, therefore, based upon two or four 
of such longer selections, with a few short poems thrown in. 

A course of study thus built up of a mere handful of the masterpieces of 
our literature is fundamentally defective. In the first place, such material 
is not the sort adapted to arouse and strengthen the first literary apprecia¬ 
tions of children. In point of form and content, and because of the evil 
methods which invariably attend its exploitation, it shoots far over their 
heads. In the second place it does not include the right selections nor 
enough of them to give children that lore which has become a part of our 
common race heritage in literature. 

Roger De Coverley Papers, a Typically Bad Case. 

Let us consider a typical illustration of this traditional content. It will 
show us the reasons why such selections have come into the common school 
curriculum, and will indicate the futility of their presence there when 
.judged by the true purposes of the work. 

Of late years the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers have crept into a number 
of courses of study in literature. These essays on the social life of an 
English country gentleman of the early eighteenth century had a limited 
vogue in their day in the coffee clubs and among literary epicures and their 
following of satellites. Since then the specialist in English literature has 
been busy upon them. He has discovered that they have a 11 place’ ? in the 
development of English prose. He has noted, presumably with joy, that 
they are written in a curious style, somewhat pompous, not to say clumsy, 
according to modern standards. He has found them to be full of quaint 
words and odd constructions and to yield innumerable allusions to events 
and conditions that have been generally forgotten for over a hundred years. 
All this offers a wide range for study, a chance for fine smackings of appre¬ 
ciations, and gives the specialist great joy. Naturally he has found the 
papers interesting, just as a paleontologist finds an odd bone or a perplexing 
fossil a source of interest. It is of the things nearest his heart. 

All this is well enough. Surely no one has any fault to find with the 
literature specialist because he has a peculiar taste for quaint and curious 
volumes of forgotten lore. But consider the result. The scholars in their en¬ 
thusiasm have sent Sir Roger, in all his musty habiliments, stalking through 
the high school and then on down into the grammar school. Nothing is too 
good for the children, they say. And so the children are presented to a 
masterpiece in which they can not have the slightest natural interest, by 
which their appreciations for books must be chilled rather than warmed, and 
from which no amount of grubbing can exhume a single scrap of knowledge 
or culture which life has found use for. 

And all this is bad. It is bad because it has resulted in teaching that has 
been fruitless; because in its very nature it has foisted upon the schools a 
content for the work in literature that is not adapted to yield life values 


(14) 


to the American of average education. Moreover, these essays are only a 
type case of many other improper selections, and an illustration of the 
special interests which have determined not only the traditional content but 
also the traditional method in our school work in literature. 

The World’s Appreciation, a Sound Basis for Selection. 

Some one will say, “Whose word is to be taken as to the suitability of 
this or that selection for school work in literature if the scholar is not to 
lead? Who else has the wisdom to decide? If the specialist is at fault no 
one is able to stand before the county board and out of the depths of his 
own judgment make safe answer.” Fortunately, there is no need to appeal 
to any one. The great mass of cultured, well-read Americans have decided. 
They have clung to the story of William Tell. They are intimate with 
Hercules and his exploits. They are still on friendly terms with Robin Hood 
and King Arthur and Horatius. On the other hand, they have placed The 
Great Stone Face on a top shelf; they have forgotten that there ever was 
such a poem as Comus; and they have never of their free will known or 
cared about Sir Roger de Coverley. These latter works may make ever so 
strong an appeal to the specialist in literature, but they show no hold on the 
general interest of our fellows; and this in spite of their bolstering and 
nursing in courses of study in literature. 

Therefore, by the operation of a well known natural law, the law of the 
survival of the fittest, certain selections have been marked as unfit and 
certain others have been stamped as fit for a common school course of study in 
literature. In the affections of the generations the fittest has not meant the 
selection that offers the best occasion for allusion hunting, or style analysis, 
or discussion of place in literary history, or special tang for favored palates. 
But the race has chosen as fittest to live in its affections those stories, poems, 
and interpretations that have proved themselves to appeal to the funda¬ 
mental human feelings and that have aroused through their situations the 
loves and the hates and the admirations that stand typical of the heart of the 
people. It is of this literature, proved fittest to move our hearts by the 
token that it has moved the hearts of our fellows, that we should build up our 
grammar school course of study. Through it the boy can be brought to his 
own in the literary birthright of his generation. It is the only means 
whereby he may experience the emotional experiences, the appreciations of 
specific situations, characters, and motives that literature has yielded to 
those who form his social unit. 

The Traditional Course Contains too Few Selections. 

The traditional course in literature is not only defective in that it contains 
selections of a character unfitted for such a use. It is also deficient in that 
it contains altogether too scanty a content. One swallow does not make a 
spring; nor will one poem in the literature class develop an appreciation for 
poetry. Reading tastes and habits are not formed over night or through one 
literary experience. They are the product of long and varied contact with 

(15) 


books. The absence of the breadth of literary contact must ever be a funda¬ 
mental weakness in any course of study having but a scanty content. 

There is another vital consideration that should urge us to increase the 
number of selections given for study in the school. The purpose of the work 
is to give the child acquaintance with the literary lore that is found current 
in the broader life about him. Plainly this can not be done by introducing 
him to merely a small fragment of this lore. He will not have a familiar 
acquaintance with Horatius because he has met Leonidas. The Arthur 
stories will not give him the emotional attitudes that are common among 
his fellows from their appreciation of William Tell. The child must be 
brought into direct, intimate touch with as many specific characters and 
situations in literature as are necessary in order to give him what the world 
about him possesses. In this way he will be brought to have his share in the 
staple culture of his race. 

Dangers of the “Type Method.’’ 

It has been urged in this connection that a few literary types, thoroughly 
presented, will serve to give general appreciation. Without commenting 
here on the dangers lurking in the common ideas about 1 ‘ thorough presenta¬ 
tion, ’ ’ it may be pointed out that this is just what our schools are doing and 
that the results show no signs of a general literary appreciation among our 
graduates. The literary type idea is dangerous because it seeks to maintain 
a fundamental error in our schools and to ground that error upon a peda¬ 
gogical theory. It does not note the palpable facts that habits of reading, 
like other habits, are the result of many experiences; that the child must 
grow to a mature literary taste through many contacts with literature; that 
the type selected may not be individually a selection that has any part in 
the world culture in literature and hence may offer the pupil no help in 
securing his share of that culture; and that the scheme has long been tried 
and found wanting. 

The Traditional Course Contains no Selections for Pleasure Reading. 

If, as we have always declared, one of the principal aims of school work in 
literature is to develop good reading habits in children, there should be 
adequate provision made for pleasure reading. Books of sound character 
suited to the tastes and interests of young people must be available for 
pleasure reading. Moreover, such books must be presented to the children 
in a way adapted to successfully arouse their desire to read them. This 
demands a wide supplementary content to the regular content of the course 
as presented in the classroom. It is a demand wholly unheeded by our 
traditional course of study. In most cases it seems to be assumed that by 
some special dispensation of providence good reading habits will result 
from the grinding of a few types in the classroom. In other cases lists of 
supplementary reading are suggested which contain selections chosen with¬ 
out test by any standard of fitness. Here and there among them may be 
found books which belong there; but they are sandwiched in between sup- 


(16) 


plementary books on geography, history, nature study and biography, whose 
purpose is clearly that of grinding the ax of the subjects to which they are 
^elated. Others are included in the lists which are clear beyond the interests 
of young people, and for that matter, outside the interests of the average 
intelligent adult reader. And in any case there is no provision made for 
systematic direction of pleasure reading. The attainment of good reading 
habits by the pupils,—a result which we have promised to secure through 
our school work in literature,—is thus left to chance fulfillment under con¬ 
ditions which make success all but impossible. 

The Traditional Content is Demanded by Prevailing Methods. 

The traditional content, as we have just seen and as thinking teachers 
everywhere have long since known, is deficient in that it is beyond the appre¬ 
ciation of children; second, because it is not selected from the literature that 
has taken a fundamental place in the interests of the race; third, because it is 
too limited in quantity to develop literary tastes or to supply a proper 
breadth of culture; and fourth, because it makes no regular place for 
supplementary reading by which good reading habits' may be developed. 
This faulty selection of material for the literature course has been largely 
due to the nature of the uses to which it has been put by traditional methods. 
An examination of the methods commonly employed in teaching the subject 
will explain why such selections have been chosen and will show how it is that 
a mere handful of them have been able to take up so much time in the class¬ 
room. 

THE “INTENSIVE” METHOD. 

The methods generally in use are based upon what has been called the 
principle of “intensive study.” A composite sketch of the procedure seems 
to be something like this: First, the life of the author is taken up. This is 
regularly done as a sort of sacrifice to the shades of the writer. Besides, 
there is a naive theory afloat to the effect that if one is properly to enjoy and 
understand what some one else has written, he must first of all acquaint him¬ 
self with a lot of petty gossip about the author’s life. This method of pro¬ 
cedure is, therefore, supposed to provoke the child to an uncontrollable 
desire to read and enjoy the selection which is before him. 

Authors’ Lives. 

Generally, the author’s life is presented in the classroom as a string of 
barren details poorly put together in the introduction or the notes of the 
text, or it may be served cold by the teacher from some biographical dic¬ 
tionary. In any event, the child learns when and where the author was born, 
whether his father was a preacher or not, whence he inherited his literary 
temperament, how old he was when he wrote his first offering, whether— 
when he was in school—he liked arithmetic or not, why he moved to Maine, 
how at one time he was editor of this or that long since defunct magazine, 
how as editor of said magazine he wrote certain editorial essays long since 
as defunct as the medium which expressed them, and how at last he was 

( 17 ) 


2—Bul. 10 


decently shelved in some university, or in the United States diplomatic 
service, or, horrible warning! drank himself to death. There is no attempt 
to make a story out of the stuff thus presented. Indeed, nine times out of 
ten it is not fit to make a story. It does not, and in its very nature can not, 
thrill or delight or stimulate or exalt the hearts of its hearers. Nor, on the 
other hand, are the biographical facts which it contains worth remembering. 
Here and there may be some scrap of knowledge about some writer which 
the child might actually meet and use in life. But that goes into the hash 
with the rest, and with the rest is first loathed and then forgotten.. The 
amount of biographical trash thus served up to children in our grammar 
and high schools under the head of literature is only conceivable to one who 
remembers what an amount of it he has forgotten. The best thing that can 
be said of it is that one recovers rapidly from it! 

The Study of Language Forms and Moral Lessons. 

After the author has been propitiated the masterpiece is taken up and the 
intensive work is on in earnest. In the first place, the children have the 
selection as a reading lesson. This is the first principle of method to appeal 
to the teacher because the w r ork is made an unmarked or at best but vaguely 
set off continuation of the formal work in reading. Besides, tradition has 
sanctioned this method and it is easy to apply it. Here, then, behold the 
pupils struggling with the great masterpieces of the language as oral reading 
lessons. Line by line they bump along over its hard spots, through its 
inverted constructions, until the ordeal is over. 

Composition then claims its share of the spoils. One passage must be 
paraphrased; another is to be condensed; a certain description is to be repro¬ 
duced. Next, if it be poetry, the versification is attacked, the rhyme and 
meter classified, analyzed and dwelled upon. Odd and misshapen sentences 
are selected for grammar exercises and diagramming. Hard words are 
threshed out, derivations are determined, allusions are chased to the back of 
the book and finally caught. Figures of speech are subjected to inquest and 
post-mortem examination. Then gems are selected for memorization. The 
child is told to learn,— 

“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven 

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels,”— 

not because it is beautiful, not because it appeals to him, but because it is a 
good example of a metaphor. Meanwhile, moral lessons have been diligently 
brought from hiding and exploited. It seems to be assumed that litera¬ 
ture has failed of its purpose unless it has been made a basis for didactic 
instruction in morality. 

A Summary of the “Intensive” Method. 

This brief sketch of the intensive” method in literature is probably suffi¬ 
cient to bring it before our minds. Most of us remember it easily enough 
as it was applied to, and later by, ourselves. We may summarize its prin¬ 
cipal characteristics as follows: 


( 18 ) 


1. The author’s life is studied. 

2. The text of the masterpiece is presented as an oral reading lesson. 

3. Analysis of diction, derivation of words, study of sentence structure, 
diagramming of obscure passages, and examination of elements of paragraph 
structure are emphasized. 

4. Allusion hunting, note grinding, and glossary thumbing are made 
much of. 

5. Written paraphrases and other composition exercises accompany the 
study. 

6. Principles of versification are considered. 

7. Figures of speech are defined and classified. 

8. Memory selections are forced upon minds which have found no beauty 
in them. 

9. Moral lessons are harped upon until the natural, unconscious strength 
of their appeal is destroyed. 

A mere enumeration of these aspects of our present methods is enough to 
show the futility of our traditional course in literature. Not one of the 
lines of study indicated is adapted to bring out the values which the work 
should yield. 

THE BANE OF PRESENT METHODS: ANALYSIS OF LITERARY 

FORMS. 

The principal evil among all these evil ways is the prevailing practice of 
spending most of the time upon an analysis of literary forms. It has been 
assumed that if a pupil knows a metaphor from a synecdoche he is then and 
there in a state fit to appreciate the beauty of both; that if he can name the 
the kind of versification he is reading then he will feel its charm. It has been 
forgotten that literature is in the first instance something to enjoy, to 
respond to emotionally,—that its character and situations are the center 
of it all,—that it presents splendid actions for us to participate in,—that it 
contains beautiful scenes for us to see, brave deeds and wise decisions for us 
to do and make. It has been lost sight of that literary forms are merely 
the medium through which the charm of the content may make its appeal, 
and that their analysis has no interest or worth save to the specialist. And 
so we have given the study of dry forms, the very husks of literature, to the 
children. The living kernel within has been overlooked. 

Literary Appreciation vs. A Diet of Husks. 

There is no intention here to disparage oral reading, composition work, 
and such study of language forms as may be reasonable. But they are not 
ends in literature teaching and they must be taught in courses of which they 
may be made the proper goals. We do not read a novel to learn how to 
read or to become skilled in classifying figures of speech or to afford us the 
delights of allusion hunting. We read it because it gives us imaginary 
introduction to interesting people, and because through its pages we enter 
into experiences which we enjoy. What would you think if you were asked 

( 19 ) 


to treat the next novel yon read according to the grammar school formula 
for studying Ivanhoe? Imagine the situation for a moment. First, you 
are compelled to study a dry four-page sketch of the author’s life. To 
satisfy our comparison, this sketch must not be an appreciation or an inter¬ 
pretation of his life,—that would be enough for an infliction,—but it must 
be a series of chronicled facts largely attached to dates. Upon your knowl¬ 
edge of these facts and dates you are then compelled to pass a quiz. 
Thereafter, the text of the novel is placed before you. Its beauty and 
charm are made manifest by oral reading, one paragraph at a time and 
each in a different style and voice,—and each voice belonging to a different 
boy or girl of twelve or fourteen years of age. Sometimes you have your 
turn at a paragraph, standing while you read in an easy and appreciative 
posture: heels together, chest thrown out, book fourteen inches from your 
eyes. At the end of each paragraph, yours included, every one joins in help¬ 
ful suggestion concerning (1) whether or not the reader raised his eyes- 
at different places, (2) whether he modulated his voice according to right 
standards, (3) whether he mispronounced this or that word, (4) whether 

he is able to pick out the subject of the paragraph,-(n) whether 

his toes were turned in or out. When criticism of the reading is over,— 
and the paragraph, if it be an ugly one, may be read two or three times 
before it is finally polished off,—an interlocutor stands ready to test you and 
the other readers on a variety of matters touching it: Is such and such a 
sentence too long? Why is the exclamation point used after “Ah” in the 
fourth line ? Give the seven rules concerning the exclamation point. Give 
the definition of “tempestuous.” Name a synonym for it. What is a 
synonym ? Name another synonym. Explain the derivation of ‘ ‘ diverting. ’ r 
Are there any figures of speech in the paragraph? What figure is found 
in the third sentence? Define personification. What is the difference 
between a personification and a metaphor ? What is the antecedent of “ it ” 
in line ten ? Diagram the sentence. Explain the allusion to Patagonia, in 
line thirteen? What does the paragraph tell you concerning the author’s 
own life? Does the last sentence make you joyful or sad? What words in 
it are suggestive of sadness? Give the content of the paragraph in your 
own words. What does the paragraph teach you concerning respect for 

your elders ? Express the subject of the paragraph in one sentence,- 

and so on, for each paragraph in the meager daily dole. 

How would you like to apply this method to your next novel or maga¬ 
zine story? Would such a method arouse your appreciations, stimulate 
your emotions, and give to you the delight that comes from real immersion 
in a story? Would you, in all candor, have anything to do with literature 
if you had to approach it through such an ordeal? There is no wonder 
that children hate “literature” when they are introduced to it through 
methods that would chill the zeal of an appreciative adult reader. The 
truth is that under such conditions they have really never tasted literature 
at all; they have simply been stuffed on its husks. 


( 20 ) 




ORIGIN OF THE TRADITIONAL METHOD IN LITERATURE. 

Why did such thumbscrew-and-rack methods ever come into use? What 
strange combination of forces gave to our common school this curious assort¬ 
ment of traditions whereby the work in literature has been made sterile? 
There seem to have been several influences to blame for it. 

Influence of the Latin Tradition on Method. 

In the first place, historical influences in the form of age-old traditions 
have been at work. At the time our modern schools were starting their 
courses of study every modern language of western Europe was under the 
ban of scholarship and without the pale of the school. In that day every 
one who boasted a yearning for culture assumed to deny as far as possible 
the very existence of his mother tongue. Classical Latin was the heart of 
education. Its study was largely a study of language forms. Its scholar¬ 
ship was not thought to be the scholarship of the world but of a favored 
class. Later on, beginning in the latter part of the eighteenth century, a 
variety of factors gradually forced the mother tongue into the classroom. 
At once the standards of the traditional classic were applied to it. Indeed, 
a strong argument for its admission was that it could be made subject to 
the same sort of study that had been devoted to the Latin. A grammar 
was run for it in ill-fitting Latin molds; a category of its figures was made; 
its poetry was analyzed and found to yield principles of versification; its 
diction was made reputable by being interpreted in terms of Latin deriva¬ 
tion; classical allusions,—common enough in the English of that day,— 
still further enhanced the possibilities of exploitation in the school. And 
so our present-day school work concerning the race language was set on its 
way under the influences of the methodology of the classics. 

Influence of Scholarship on Method. 

The study of English was thus given its early cast by the traditional 
objects and the ideals of the study of the language forms of Latin. Since 
then the hand of the scholar has been busy with it. The study of the 
English proved a rich digging. It soon became a field for research and 
exploitation by a new cult of scholars. As the researches grew deeper, the 
accumulation of knowledge concerning the language grew to imposing bulk. 
It had a history; its grammar was full of delightful questions for discussion; 
its words were derived not only from Latin, but from half a dozen inter¬ 
mediate and ultimate sources; there were rules governing their pronuncia¬ 
tion ; rules, too, for its sentence-making and paragraphing. Without much 
delay the scholar proved that, as a field for the study of language, English 
could be made quite as formal and almost as respectable as Latin. Under 
this, showing its stock rose and the common schools of our country invested 
heartily in it. 

Now r a curious fact should be observed at this point: the scholars, who, 
through their excellent system of division of labor, gathered together and 
organized the vast mass of knowledge now extant concerning the language, 

( 21 ) 


did not stop to inquire how much or just what of all this aggregate wisdom 
should be instilled into the minds of boys and girls who were not preparing 
for special research work in English, but who merely wished a general 
adjustment to the demands of life. Perhaps it was not the business of the 
scholars to warn the public that nine tenths of what they knew was only 
of value to the specialist; or it may be that they were stirred by the taunts 
and stimulated by the example of their brothers in the field of Latin; 
or possibly, being very busy men, they never thought much about it; but 
the fact is that as their research advanced, in like 'ratio and in the same 
direction grew the study of the English language forms in the public schools. 
The standard of pure scholarship, which in plain terms is merely the study 
of a subject for the subject’s sake, thus came to direct the content and 
method of the common school course in literature,—whose standard should 
have been the study of the subject for the boys’ and girls’ sake. 

Fictions of Pedagogy. 

When the law finds itself in a logical cul-de-sac it invents what is called 
a fiction of law and thus manages to maintain a serious face on the situation. 
When the scholars of English and the scholars of pedagogy found that they 
were giving a nation’s children a course in English that seemed to many 
to be as purposeless in selection of material and almost as void in real 
efficiency as the narrow Latin course had been, they also took refuge in a 
fiction,—a fiction of pedagogy. They did not invent it,—in fact, they were 
largely invented by it,—but they modified and adapted and decorated and 
bedecked it, and commended it to the admiration of the world. This fiction 
declared that the orderly study of grammar, syntax, rhetoric, prosody, and 
language forms in general, along the line on which scholars had organized 
them, gave general strength to the mind, cogency to the judgment, keenness 
to the observation, retentiveness to the memory; that it was, in short, a 
quick way to insure the full and general efficiency of all the mental processes. 
Other and minor fictions, equally pleasing, have been invented from time to 
time as their need became manifest: (1) that the study of grammar teaches 
children to speak and write correct English; (2) that a study of derivations 
is the best way of learning what words mean; (3) that a correct and fluent 
style of speech is the result of possessing much organized wisdom on the 
subject of sentence structure and style; (4) that an ability to classify 
figures of speech gives its possessor a peculiar power to appreciate such 
figures; (5) that the study of an author’s life is a necessary prerequisite to 
one who wishes to understand what the author has written; (6) that a 
knowledge of good literature is the surest way to moral living. Thus each 
new cul-de-sac in our present school course in English has been labeled a 
gateway to something worth having; while the whole course has been 
advertised as a means to a useful and happy life. The authors of these 
fictions and their present disciples have not observed that the fictions were 
merely fictions; that they had adopted and modified a theory that Latin had 
proved unsound; that the given means consistently failed to produce the 


( 22 ) 


promised results; that they were confusing the education of a specialist in 
English with the education in English that might be of value to a nation; 
that the theory of their fictions was founded on a psychology long since 
threadbare and outworn. 

With the scholar as a scholar no one has any fault to find. As a research 
man, and more specially as one who may apply new-found knowledge to use¬ 
ful ends, he is an important element in our civilization. But when he sets 
the abstract standards of his scholarship as the basis for organizing the 
content and methods of grammar school work iti literature it is time for us 
to stop and ask him just what that work will be worth to the children who are 
not going to be specialists in the field of English. And the time has passed 
when fictions of pedagogy will be accepted as answers. 

Influence of Book-Making on Content and Method. 

A third influence has arisen to perpetuate the traditional method and 
content of our school work in literature. The literature text-maker and the 
text-publisher know that the classics of our language can not be subjected 
to copyright control. Improvements, therefore, are introduced in the form 
of introductions, biographical sketches, foot-notes, glossaries, indexes, ap¬ 
pendixes, and all the other attributes of the present-day texts. Upon the 
publication thus adorned a proprietary right and a proprietary profit may 
be maintained. Error has thus been capitalized and made to pay dividends 
to the bookmaker. 

The answer to the question, how did the curious present-day methods in 
literature come into such common use, has only been roughly outlined in 
the above. A fuller answer would take us too far from the scope of this 
work. But the opportunity for inquiry is a tempting one; the field is rich 
with diverting situations. Into it some satirist may yet be tempted to 
enter, to the inextinguishable merriment of future generations. 


RESULTS REAL AND ALLEGED. 

It may seem to many a gratuitous task to spend any further time discus¬ 
sing the defects in the traditional common school course in literature. The 
list of pedantries seems to be overwhelmingly complete. The content of the 
course has been too meager, too difficult and too far removed from the 
literature which has become a common possession of the race. The methods 
employed,—intensive in their character,—have been designed to teach the 
mechanics of oral reading rather than to develop appreciations of literature. 
We have dwelt upon biography, language forms, and composition exercises 
while we should have been arousing appreciations for splendid characters 
and stirring situations. We have, in short, arranged a content and devised 
a method which have neglected the values in knowledge, culture and ideals 
that literature should yield to all. And yet there exists a traditional faith, 
based upon who can say what mirage of fancy, that from such work as this 
results of splendid value may be attained. Therefore, it still remains for us 


( 23 ) 


to inquire into the facts of the case so that we may know of a certainty, as 
workers intrusted with a great work should know, the nature of the actual 
results. 

The first course of study which you consult will probably tell you what 
results are expected from the work in literature. You will be told that it 
gives the pupil an insight into the beauties of our language; that it insures 
to him the culture which comes from contact with our master-writers; that 
it inspires in him a love of good books; that it strengthens his memory; trains 
his imagination; purifies his’ heart, develops his better nature and molds his 
character. Most of us have probably said all this often enough in one way or 
another. 

But the actual results are not to be proved by our making this fluent 
boast of them, however honest we may be in it. There is a certain homely 
test long since known and used by wayfaring folk in other, walks of life 
which we may profitably apply to our work. It is the simple, common sense 
test that judges the efficiency of any process by an examination of its prod¬ 
ucts. By examining our products, the boys and girls who graduate from our 
literature classes, we may easily determine what our literature course has 
actually accomplished. Its content, its method and its promises must stand 
or fall with the results of that test. “By their fruits ye shall know them. ” 

Actual Results: The Testimony of Our Graduates. 

High school teachers will generally agree with the following statement: 
Those graduates of our grammar schools who take up literature work 
in the high school know almost nothing of the mass of literary fact which has 
been given to them in the grammar school. They have forgotten the name of 
the author of Snow-Bound; they confuse Longfellow with Shakespeare; they 
have hopelessly forgotten the maze of details involved in the labored bio¬ 
graphical introductions which their earlier work involved. Their knowledge 
of language forms,—figures of speech, rules of versification, derivations and 
literary allusions,—seems to have almost wholly evaporated during the 
summer vacation. Besides, to cap the climax, they are, quite as often as not, 
unfriendly to school literature. Many of them dislike to read; few of them 
have tolerably good taste in their reading. The high school teacher finds 
that she has to begin the whole process over again; and this she does, with 
some further intensifications of the “intensive” methods employed by her 
sister in the grammar grades,—and with substantially the same results. 

The writer has had some experience with grammar and high school grad¬ 
uates of rather more than average common sense and culture. Their ver¬ 
sions of the purposes of school literature, and its results, as manifested in 
their knowledge of and attitudes toward the subject, are of interest. In a 
majority of cases they have answered that the main purpose of school work in 
literature is to hunt down the meaning of allusions. It has been agreed by 
whole classes of these products of our literature classes that there is but 
little reason for putting the Charge of the Light Brigade into a course of 
study, because the only thing to study about it is the single allusion to 


( 24 ) 


< ' Cossacks. ’ ’ Another prevalent notion advanced by them is that literature 
is a means of learning something about authors. No claim was made by 
these educated young people that they remembered anything of much conse¬ 
quence of all this biographical matter; but the learning of it had been no 
small slice of their school work. On a par in importance was the idea that 
the study of literature is a study of language forms. All agreed that versi¬ 
fication, figures of speech, rhetorical devices, sentence structure, derivation 
of words, and all the rest of it, had been made much of when the work was 
done; although no one could recall having made any use of such knowledge 
since the last examination was passed. In fact, no one seemed to have very 
much of it left to use, or to feel any sense of shame because of its absence. 

Then proceeding on another tack, lists of the world-known, world-loved 
stories and poems have been read to these graduates to see how far their 
tastes had actually been led into the culture and knowledge nearest the heart 
of the subject. The result was interesting, not to say shocking. Few had 
heard of Damon and Pythias. No one knew the story of the Wooden 
Horse. Joan of Arc lived as a badly blurred name. The Gordian Knot 
was a meaningless phrase. And in the field of masterpieces from which their 
literature courses had been supplied the condition was the same. One class 
w r as asked, ' ' How many have read some of Tennyson’s poems ? ’ ’ Some hands 
were raised, many brows were contracted and a look of uncertainty went 
around the room. “I mean The Idyls of the King, In Memoriam, The Brook, 
The Charge of the Light Brigade, and so forth/’ was prompted. All hands 
were raised. “Outside of school and school requirements—just for fun?” 
the question concluded. All hands dropped down but two. This, and much 
more just like it, from those who rank somewhat above the average product 
of our schools. 

Typical Results. 

The story has been told of a boy who was preparing his literature lesson 
while his little sister, who had glanced over his shoulder at the poem before 
him,—Gray’s Elegy,—went about repeating to herself the line, “The curfew 
tolls the knell of parting day, ” “ The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. ’ ’ 
After she had said this over and over some half-dozen times the distracted 
brother turned sharply and said, “Why do you go around repeating that 
fool line ? It almost drives me crazy. ’ ’ The girl, in wonder, replied, ' ‘ Why, 
don’t you like it? I think it’s beautiful. It sounds so fine. Just listen, 
'The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.’ I like it.” “Like it!” snorted 
the brother. “Well, you just wait until you get into the eighth grade and • 
hear the teacher say, 'What does curfew mean?’ 'What does knell mean?’ 
'What does parting day mean?’ 'Johnnie, scan that line.’ Then you won’t 
like it any more. You’ll hate it.” And the pity of it is that he was right. 
She and hundreds of others have come to hate it; or at best have remained 
untouched by its appeal. 

Not long since, the writer was passing through a room where a girl of 
twelve or thereabout was reading and explaining fairy stories to a younger 
child. She was all wrapped up in what she was doing. Her face and the 


( 25 ) 


face of her listener were bright with interest and enjoyment. She was teach¬ 
ing literature for all that it was worth. “You seem to be very fond of 
stories/’ said the writer. “Oh, I just love stories!” was the reply. “Then 
I suppose you like your school work in literature, ’ ’ was suggested. ‘ ‘ Liter¬ 
ature?” the child answered, “I don’t care anything for literature. It has 
nothing to do with stories!” 

Wanted: A Love of Good Books. 

There are few teachers who have not been bothered by the occasional 
discovery that some of the boys were reading that always worthless and 
often harmful cheap fiction found in the paper covered five-cent novel; or 
that the girls were indulging in the thrills which accompany the reading of 
Bertha M. Clay, The Duchess and others of the same stripe. Not infre¬ 
quently the children who read this miserable stuff are the very ones who show 
the least interest in their school literature. Is it because they are naturally 
morbid in their tastes and desires that they seek for themselves a noisome 
byway instead of a main high road into the field of books ? There is a com¬ 
mon cry that boys do not like school literature, that they “just naturally 
hate” poetry. Is it because they do not respond to any of the good or brave 
or beautiful things which the best men have done or thought ? It is a com¬ 
mon cry that children about to graduate from our grammar schools do not 
like to read. Is it because human feelings have become blunted in this 
degenerate age, and no longer respond to the stimuli that have moved the 
race for lo, these many years ? Nearly every other day each principal of a 
large grammar school meets a parent whose boy is troublesome and tired of 
school. Four times out of five that boy doesn’t like to read. It is an 
interesting coincidence, to say the least. 

Promises Unfulfilled. 

It is a plain statement of fact that not one of the glib promises which we 
are prone to make so abundantly for our school work in literature is being 
commonly fulfilled. Our pupils are not grasping the ideals and assuming 
the emotional attitudes embodied in the selections presented. They are not 
developing a taste for good books. They are not receiving their birthright 
of appreciation for the lore of their race. They are getting just what we 
give them: some increase in the power of oral reading unaccompanied by a 
love for it; a knowledge of a mass of idle gossip concerning authors ’ lives, 
unconnected with any culture demand set by the world and hopelessly 
evanescent; and some insight into the complexities involved in the technical 
analysis of language forms,—an insight painful and purposeless in its acqui¬ 
sition and hardly to be maintained until the final examination is over. 

A Bartered Birthright. 

All this is the logical price that we must pay for what we are doing in 
literature. Figs have not yet been gathered from thistles; but our tradi¬ 
tional course of study in literature has ingeniously grafted thistles on to fig 

( 26 ) 


trees and gathered a bountiful crop. Children with the normal healthy 
appetites of their unfolding emotional life have asked for bread and we have 
handed them a stone. They have clamored for meat, and we have passed them 
a serpent. Being intelligent, they do not raise their plates for second help¬ 
ing. Then we marvel at the decreasing popular interest in poetry, bewail the 
decay of the old-time love for the literary heritage of the race, and cry anath¬ 
emas against the sordid commercial age in which our lines have fallen ! The 
times are all right, and so are the children; but in so far as our schools could 
do it, the literary birthright of our boys and girls has been bartered for a 
mess of pottage. It is high time for us to ask ourselves whether we are 
content with the results of this transaction. 


( 27 ) 


CHAPTER III. 


A PLAN FOR THE WORK. 


AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE COURSE. 

The course of study outlined in the following pages is offered as a con¬ 
structive effort to put grammar grade work in literature upon a paying 
basis. Something has been said already concerning the purposes of this 
course. They may be summarized here, for the sake of emphasis, as follows: 

1. To give to the new generation a knowledge of the literature which has 
won and held first place in the world’s lasting memory. 

2. To stimulate such appreciations and such emotional attitudes as this 
literature commonly arouses. 

3. To lead children into a love of books and good reading habits. 

These are’modest, conservative aims. Any ordinary teacher in an ordinary 

school can attain them. For the matter of that, they are attained now, in 
whole or in part, by a considerable per cent of our fellows without the help¬ 
ful intervention of school work. Their values in terms of useful knowledge, 
in emotional culture, and in tastes that yield lifelong pleasure and advantage 
are beyond question. 


Will-o’-the-wisp Objects. 

Some are not content to stop here and acknowledge that a sufficient pur¬ 
pose has been found. They would set up the teaching of literature as the 
machinery for making writers. Or they declare that the school has done 
its duty only wdien literary appreciations have led to moral conduct. In 
order to square our promises by performance, let us stand on the solid 
ground of what the subject can do, and what when given half a chance it 
does do, than to depend on any frail hope as to what we may fondly wish it 
should do or might do. 

If an intelligent teacher were asked by a parent, “Can you give my 
boy,—an ordinary normal boy, under ordinary normal conditions,—a love 
for the works of Shakespeare and an appreciation of the world’s best known, 
most used literature?” she would not be deceiving herself or him to say, 
“Yes, I can. Give me the boy, and don’t bother me with a course of study 
that puts everything before literary appreciation, and I’ll give the boy a 
love for the world’s best stories.” But if the parent were not satisfied 
therewith and asked in addition,—“ Then will you not, also, teach him to 
write such plays as Shakespeare wrote, or at least something or other that 
the world will love and hold to ? ’ ’—the teacher, being intelligent, and not 

( 28 ) 



being in the business of taking money and children under false pretenses,, 
should say, “No, I can’t do it. If I could, I would resign the teaching of 
school and take to running the universe. ’ ’ Any ordinary teacher can lead 
any ordinary boy to admire th'e heroism of Leonidas or the civic virtue of 
the Consul Brutus;—attitudes of feeling that place him at one on these 
points with the rest of the world. But she would have to remodel his 
ancestry, reconstruct his home life, direct his doings and his diet, supervise 
his vital functioning, control the operation of his seven senses, and then 
at just the right psychological moment create exactly the right situation in 
order to make him fight like Leonidas, or serve the state as did the first 
Roman Consul. Life conduct is the resultant of a complexity of forces over 
which the school has but a limited control. There is no school formula in 
literature or any other subject that will make the pupil truthful, or kind, 
or self-reliant, or honest, in the situations that later years may bring forth. 

By-Products. 

Yet for those who would shrink from believing this,—a fact commonly 
attested in the experiences of every one,—there is still some comfort. Our 
emotional experiences and our mental attitudes that we gain from litera¬ 
ture are factors in the complex of causes that determine conduct. The 
boy who admires the fidelity of Pythias may not be faithful in a much less 
trying situation; yet his admiration for the ideal love of the hero has set 
up a tension toward the right. Public opinion, too, is a very powerful 
factor in shaping individual conduct. If our literature could lead to a 
crystallization of strong community feeling on the subject of family affection 
or civic duty, a force would be established powerful enough to direct the 
actions of the individual in the specific situations involved. But when all is 
said and done the direct, positive end of school work in literature is pure 
appreciation of the stories to which the w T orld clings. What by-products 
may come from this, what far distant, untraced consequences may arise, are 
not practical objects toward which to aim. They will take care of themselves 
if we but teach literature so as to draw from it its real and palpable values. 

Objects Must be Attainable as well as Desirable. 

Let us be content, therefore, to see literature do what it always has done 
in the education of the feelings and in yielding the main supply of the cul¬ 
ture of the race. Otherwise in trying to get from it results that are specu¬ 
lative and remote we will throw away the substance in grasping at the 
shadow. It has been said that some of the best mines in Nevada have been 
promoted and overcapitalized until they have become the wildest of wild¬ 
cats. Gold is in these mines,—loads of it; but when the prospective investor 
has asked what he could get by putting in his savings, the promoter instead 
of showing that the dividends would pay for a modest house and lot in the 
suburbs, has dazzled him with visions of a palace on Fifth avenue and a 
steam yacht on the Mediterranean. In our efforts to get something good 
out of literature we must not be guilty ^of overcapitalization, or of exploiting- 

( 29 ) 


the wrong leads. Values are before us, well worth the winning,-—tangible 
values, demonstrably wfithin our grasp,—if we but square our work to attain 
them. There is so much for the teacher of literature to do which should be 
and can be done,-—and that in most schools 1 is not being done,—that there 
is no time to follow every hue and cry promising the speculative dividends 
of frenzied pedagogy. 

THE CONTENTS OF THE PROPOSED COURSE. 

Stories. 

The myths, legends, and stories selected for presentation have been 
selected by their fitness to secure the purposes which the course has in view. 
They were not selected by the writer: the world long since picked them out. 
They are included here because the world has included them in its list of 
best loved master-subjects. 

They are simple as to motive, incident and plot. They are wdiolesome in 
their appeal. They are all typical of the literature which life has found 
most place for. Two stories only, Ivanhoe and Baucis and Philemon, must be 
excepted from this statement. Ivanhoe has been introduced as a fitting cap¬ 
stone to the legend and story of the age of chivalry, and as a type of the 
romantic novel. Baucis and Philemon claims a place because it seemed well 
to step out of way, if necessary, to find a tale in which common hospitality 
is the theme. 

Without exception, the stories are simple in motive, incident, and plot. 
They are all wholesome in their appeal to the feelings of the hearer. They 
are all vibrant with the deepest and most forthright and best loved ideals 
of the race. 

No Long Poems. 

No long poem has even won to a widespread, long sustained affection in 
the hearts of the people. We shall not try to justify this statement here; 
or make effort to show how certain apparent exceptions to the rule are 
really not exceptions at all. Most of us will admit the truth of the proposi¬ 
tion without delay. It must be clear to any one, upon an instant’s thought, 
that no long poem can be named to compare in popularity with the Charge 
of the Light Brigade, A Man's a Man for a’ That, America, and a score of 
other little outbursts, each breathing in a few lines of melody almost musical, 
a single gush of feeling. 

Strange to say, tradition has long forced the common schools to fill their 
courses of study almost wholly with this one class of literary production 
which has held last place in the world’s interests,—the long poem. Worst 
of all, the long poems selected have generally been of adult interest, 
reflective, didactic, ultra-complex in thought and form, full of motives, 
situations, and allusions of a kind to challenge the wits of the literary con¬ 
noisseur. The theory has been that nothing is too good for little children,— 
even if it prove to have been too philosophical, pedantic, labored or over 
refined in matter and manner for nine tenths of the world full of book 
loving adults! ♦ 


( 30 ) 



Because the long poem has a relatively unimportant place in the staple 
literary culture of the world, and because, in any event, the surest way to fail 
to develop an appreciation for poetry is to introduce children at once to the 
most complex and artistic products of great artists, the long poem has been 
omitted from this course. 


Plenty of Short Poems. 

The poetry of the people is short poetry. We find it in the ballad and 
the lyric,—poetry to be memorized, recited and sung. We find it character¬ 
ized by these qualities: It appeals to fundamental, primitive emotions. It 
is forthright and unsophisticated in its loves and hates. It is short, simple, 
narrative, and swift-moving. 

A number of short poems of this sort have been worked out in this course 
for presentation by the teacher; and a list of others of the same sort and 
suitable for similar treatment is to be found on page 71. These specific 
poems do not make claim to such general currency as do the stories. They 
are, however, representative of a class of poetry which maintains a claim 
upon the appreciations of all. Through them we shall secure not only the 
specific culture which contact with them yields, but we shall win as well an 
interest in and taste for the wholesome, simple, folk poetry which they 
represent. It was through the love of poetry of this sort that the race first 
won its way to whatever range of appreciation it now possesses. And 
children of the present day still find the old way to a love of poetry the 
easiest for them to follow. 

The Arrangement of the Content. 

The selections have been arranged in an order roughly following a chrono¬ 
logical sequence of their incidents. This is of distinct help to the teacher, 
because it provides that a number of stories with the same background and 
general setting will follow one after another. Thus we may roughly group 
the selections into the following classes: Greek Myths; Stories from Greek 
History; Legendary and Historical Tales of Rome; Stories of Chivalry and 
Heroism in the Middle Ages; Stories of the Struggle for Liberty. The 
teacher will, therefore, not find it necessary to build up a new background 
and a different literary atmosphere of time and place for each new 
selection. 

The short poems have been sprinkled throughout the course. Such others 
as may be added from the list suggested should also be distributed so as to 
afford variety to the work. 

THE PLACE OF THE COURSE IN THE CURRICULUM. 

This course is planned to require not less than three periods per week for 
two years,—preferably the seventh and eighth grades. In some schools the 
work in oral reading is practically discontinued at the beginning of the 
fifth year. In others it is continued through the eighth. But in any school, 
with fair teaching and a common sense standard of attainment in view, there 

( 31 ) 


is no need for drill in oral reading to occupy more than two periods per 
week during the last two years. The remaining three periods may then be 
claimed by the literature work. 

In schools where the place of formal reading has been carefully worked 
out there is doubtless more time available for literature than this minimum 
of three periods during the last two years. In such schools, by the intro¬ 
duction of some of the additional short poems, this course may be expanded 
into sufficient work for three years; and if desired, the inclusion of a few 
additional stories will provide adequate work for three periods per week 
during all four of the grammar grade years. 

One thing should be distinctly understood. The time required in which 
to teach this course is claimed for literature: not for composition, or oral 
expression, or formal reading or anything else under the sun. 

A word should be said right here concerning the adaptability of the dif¬ 
ferent selections to the different grammar grades. Some may say that 
Greek myths should not be given to children in the fifth grade; or that the- 
story of Brutus and Caesar should have no place in the grammar school. As- 
a matter of fact either of these subjects is fit for presentation to children in 
the fifth grade or to men and women in a university: it all depends upon the 
depth to which the interpretation goes. The directions and suggestions 
accompanying the topics in the following course are designed to make each 
selection of value to any grammar grade class. 

METHODS. 

Suggestions as to methods have been offered in such abundance in the 
body of this handbook that it is almost unnecessary to say much about them 
here. Besides there is no one way in which all the selections should be taken 
up. Each story is best approached in its own way, and there are several 
distinct general lines of procedure. The treatment of selections in the fol¬ 
lowing pages has been, therefore, an application of such method to each 
as its nature demands, and such as classroom results have shown to be most 
effective. 

Nevertheless there are some fundamental propositions which have almost 
the binding force of axioms in the teaching of literature. It may be well 
for us to emphasize them. 

The Teacher as Story-Teller. 

Above all, the child must be introduced to the story in such a way that 
it claims his appreciations. First, then, the story should be told to him 
by the teacher. Through her telling, its situations may be made clear. 
Many of the stories, indeed, have no standard masterpiece form suitable 
for presentation. The stories of Hercules, The Trojan War, Marathon and 
Thermopylae, William Tell, Alfred the Great, Joan of Arc, and Damon and 
Pythias are examples of this class. The teacher should have access to read¬ 
ing sufficient to saturate herself with the spirit and meaning of each. She 
should see just what situations are adapted to arouse class appreciations.. 

( 32 ) 


She should know in advance what emotional responses her class work should 
create. And then, the preparation being adequate, she should tell the story 
to the class for all that it is worth. The same method should be used in 
most cases in presenting a poem or a story that has been done into master¬ 
piece form by some author. In the case of such selections as Ivanhoe, and 
Horatius the teacher will find this story-telling to be the surest avenue to 
the interests and awakening tastes of the children. 

The Teacher as Interpreter. 

This is the fundamental idea of all the various methods that have been 
found effective: the teacher should be the interpreter, the medium through 
which the spirit of the story reaches the class. She should use the text, 
supplementary pictures, chalk and blackboard, and all the accessories that 
may help her in the work. But the accessories must keep to their proper 
place: they must always be recognized as means and not as ends in the work 
of interpreting a good story. 

Two general objections have been urged against this practice. One 
objection is to the effect that the average teacher can not tell a story. The 
other is that no teacher can tell a story as well as the author of a masterpiece 
has told it. Both charges at first sight may seem to be correct, but neither 
when subjected to analysis is found to contain truth pertinent to the issue. 
Power in story-telling is a natural attribute existing in varying degrees in 
all of us. To be sure, false practices will inhibit its expression and may 
in time cause it to atrophy. The teacher who has spent twenty years con¬ 
ducting books-closed quizzes may have some difficulty in calling up an 
expression of her neglected power of story-telling. But even in her case it 
can generally be done with some effort. 

In the case of a teacher who has maintained the strength of her instinctive 
story-telling impulse by using it, as well as in the case of the young teacher 
who has not destroyed this aspect of her human nature by false practices, 
there is no danger of failure in the work. 

But how, it is asked,- can even a reasonably good story-teller present the 
selection in as effective a form as the great poet or story-writer? The 
answer is to be found in the fact that the teacher is dealing with children 
whose appreciation of belles-lettres has not begun to grow. The merest 
amateur can tell the story of Macbeth to an eighth grade class so as to 
arouse a far deeper appreciation of the tragedy than would be awakened if 
the immortal text itself were placed in the hands of the pupils. She will 
be able to make any of the iEsop’s Fables many fold as effective in the 
primary school than the brief, pithy text can make it. She can give to 
twelve- and fourteen-year-old children a keener insight into the motives, 
issues, and situations of the Trojan War than the best translator of Homer 
could possibly convey. And in all such cases she will really be leading up 
to and paving the way for the later adult appreciations through which 
our world-known masterpieces will be opened to the minds and hearts of 
the children as they develop. It is true that to the adult whose tastes have 


3—Bul. 10 


(33) 


been developed by long and friendly touch with good books the story-teller 
must give place to the story-writer and the poet. But to say that this is 
true in the case of grammar school children is to assume that they are 
already equipped with full-fledged power of literary appreciation. This 
is no less than to say that the children already have that which we are 
bending our energies to give them, and which under present conditions we 
have been unable to give them in eight years of school work. No child 
springs at once or by inspiration into a love for books. It is, therefore, the 
purpose of the teacher as a story-teller to start him right in his develop¬ 
ment; to give him the heart of the story or the poem, to make its great 
characters and situations live in his imagination; to break down the barrier 
set by the form of the masterpiece; and thus to put him in the way whereby 
he may attain at length to the new values and richer flavors which the 
masterpiece may hold. 

What About the Literature Text-Book? 

It is clear that the children can not be asked to buy texts of all the selec¬ 
tions included in this course. What, then, is to be done ? In the main, we 
will do without texts. After the teacher has told the story and properly 
exploited all its meanings; after she has given her pupils all the culture it 
has to offer, all the emotional attitudes which it is able to arouse, all the 
desire for pleasure reading which it may be made to yield; then, after the 
pupils have given expression to each of these results: what is there left 
for a text to do ? And in the attainment of these ends the text has no part 
to play. There must be, of course, books for the children to read as pleasure 
reading in connection with their course in literature. But these should 
be a part of the school library. (See Chapter IV.) . 

In the case of the poetry, the children should purchase and use some good 
collection of the common poems of the people. All of the following collec¬ 
tions are good. Each of them contains a large number of the poems included 
and suggested for inclusion in this course: 

Gayley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People. 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know. 

Besides this collection of poems, the text of Ivanhoe or a good assortment 
of Greek stories, or the King Arthur Tales,, may be purchased by the chil¬ 
dren. But in such cases the text should be considered as a book in which the 
pupil is to do pleasure reading between class lessons. It will be decidedly 
more profitable for all concerned to put all such story reading where it 
belongs as a part of the pleasure reading work, and to provide for it 
through the school library. 

In the event that the teacher should find it desirable,—as she may in rare 
cases,—to present portions of some prose story to the children by placing 
it before them in the form given it by some author, and in the case of the 
presentation* of the text of poems, the content of the selection should be 
made clear to the children in advance, or an adequate basis for class appre- 


(34) 


(nation of the text otherwise established. The text of the author should then 
be read by the teacher to the class, with such interpretation interwoven as 
it may need. In no case should the text he made a reading lesson, or he 
introduced hy the pupils reading it in rotation. This gives the author a 
decent chance to have his message delivered. It is absolutely essential if 
appreciation of the beauty and force of the poem is to be brought home to 
the children. As this point has been touched upon in discussing the state 
of our present method, it need not be amplified here. It should be remem¬ 
bered that the omission of class oral reading in literature need not mean 
the omission of any part of the necessary oral reading work of the pupils. 
It does mean that the teaching of oral reading can not be well done or even 
attempted during the literature hour without defeating the ends for whose 
attainment the hour was presumably devoted. Teach oral reading as much 
as you please and to the attainment of such proficiency as may be desired. 
But don’t try to teach it while your principal aim is to touch the hearts of 
children by opening them to the emotional call of some rare old poem or 
the charm of some splendid bit of prose. 

Class Activity. 

Whether the teacher is telling the story, or reading the poem or short 
prose quotation, the class should be continually active. In every turn of 
the story, in almost every sentence of the text, lies an opportunity for a 
stimulating question, and a quickening answer from the class. Discussions 
of motives, conclusions as to probable results, expression of hopes and feel¬ 
ings, shrewd forecasting of the next step, answers to semi-rhetorical ques¬ 
tions,—all these and a score of other opportunities will be ready at the 
teacher’s hand and will serve to keep at white heat the interest of the class. 
It should be remembered that a passive class is emotionally and mentally 
an unproductive class when compared with a group of children whose hands 
flash into the air and whose bodies are ever ready to start from their seats. 

By means of this cooperative class activity the teacher will attain several 
results that should be present if the best work is to be done: 

(1) A marked degree of mental alertness will accompany the progress of 
the work. 

(2) The emotional reactions of the children will be made deeper and 
more intense. 

(3) It will be impossible unconsciously to fail to make some point clear 
or to dwell too long upon other points. 

(4) It will mean not onfy a richer but a more lasting appreciation of 
the selection by the class. 

(5) It will afford a perfect measure of just what the class is really getting 
from the work. 

It must not be understood that this class activity is to be a product of the 
formal books-closed quiz method. It should never be a bar to the progress 
of the interpretations or take the form of a check to the unfolding meaning 
of the selection. It should lead on to new points, quicken new feelings, 


(35) 


establish new associations, arouse fresh and constructive ideas. In this 
phase of the work the highest usefulness of the teacher as interpreter and 
inspirer of interpretation will be found. Through it the power of a great 
and fascinating art may be developed by her and given expression. 

The Teacher’s Preparation. 

As in every other branch of school work, the whole worth of this course 
in literature depends upon the teacher’s preparation. She must know her 
story: not only its main points, but also its details, its finer motives, its 
little turns and shades of meaning. Her mind must be full of mental 
pictures in which the action and background of the plot are bright and clear. 
Besides, to insure the appreciations of her class for the story, she must 
appreciate it herself. It must seem to her a tale well worth the telling. 

Fortunately, the stories of this course are so well known that most teachers 
have a rough outline of many of them in mind. This outline must be filled 
out, and the suggestions under the heading, “Preparation and Presenta¬ 
tion,” are designed to help the teacher in putting her work into shape. 
She will find there suggestions as to where to place emphasis, what incidents 
to treat in detail, what points to make specially clear, what discussion to 
arouse and what appreciations to develop in the children. Certain pictures, 
sketches, diagrams and maps are also indicated as of essential value in the 
work of presentation. 

Most important of all, the teacher will find under every topic, and in 
most cases after each lesson unit, a list of references for her to use in build¬ 
ing up in her own mind a strong, vivid knowledge of the story. As many 
references as are commonly available have been included in these lists; but 
it is not expected that any teacher will read all the references suggested 
for use in the preparation of any selection. In many cases one good source 
of information, and in all instances access to three or four sources of lesser 
value will prove sufficient for good work. 

So that the teacher may know just what minimum basis of reference 
material is required for first-class preparation, a special list has been pre¬ 
pared of the books found most useful. This list may be found on page 47. 
It includes a total of thirty books. These books, or other reference material 
of equivalent value, should be in every school library where this course of 
study is in use. Without them, or other matter of equal worth, preparation 
must be uncertain in the case of some of the topics. With them at hand 
there will be no difficulty in giving each story the treatment that it deserves. 
All the other books referred to in the reference lists following the topics 
have been listed on page 48 as, “Other Useful Reference Books.” These 
should be in the school library in case it is possible to provide them. They 
may be secured in the order in which they are listed for they have been set 
down approximately in the order of their usefulness to the teacher and the 
class. 

It may be pointed out to any one who questions the desirability of placing 
so many books in the school library for the use of the teacher that all of the 

( 36 ) 


references listed, and especially those in the “Minimum List of Reference 
Books, ’ ’ are adapted to the reading powers and tastes of the children as well. 
They will provide a portion of the necessary material for the supplementary 
pleasure reading of the pupils. 


Memory Work. 

Here and there throughout the course certain fragments of verse have 
been suggested as worth memorizing. To these, the teacher may find it 
possible to add a number of the more popular of the short poems. But in 
no case should anything be prescribed for memorization before its beauty 
has made successful appeal to the hearts of the pupils. It will be found, 
naturally enough, if the work is well done, that the class will appreciate 
most keenly the fragments and selections that have won their way into the 
memories of the rest of mankind. Memorization should in such event be 
asked of those parts which receive general class consent as worth remember¬ 
ing. The process will then have become an almost involuntary reaction to 
the beauty of the lines. 

Literary Knowledge and the Cumulative Review. 

It is no secret that the graduates of many of our literature classes are 
almost as deficient in their knowledge of commonly current literary fact 
as they are free from true literary appreciation. Graduates of our schools 
do not know who wrote Ivanhoe or when that hero lived or what a knight 
was. They have forgotten that Horatius was a Roman and lived a long 
time ago. They forget whether King Arthur signed the Magna Charta,— 
nr was murdered in a to^wer! Nor may we ever be sure of permanent 
accuracy on these and a host of similar staple literary facts by one presenta¬ 
tion of the stories and selections involving them, no matter how skillfully 
that presentation may be made. Something special should be done, there¬ 
fore, to insure the permanence in the pupil’s memory of such literary 
knowledge as will prove of value to him. 

This may be done in the following manner: When all the work of 
interpreting a selection has been completed the teacher should hold a brisk 
review of the various scraps of knowledge concerning it which are worth 
holding in mind. These should be brought up for further review at the 
beginning of each period in literature, and to them should be added the 
facts selected as worth retaining in mind when each successive selection 
is finished. The review thus becomes cumulative and systematic, and the 
literary knowledge that it wishes to make hard and fast in the pupil’s 
memory is thus conserved. 

For two reasons a special portion of each period should be formally given 
over to this work. First, so as to insure its being systematically done; for 
without system the idea will come to naught. Second, so as to set this 
work of reviewing and fixing the facts worth permanent memorization as 
far from the regular method in literature as possible. The teacher should 
keep in mind the fact that the cumulative review work and its method 


(37) 


should have no part in the presentation and interpretation of the selection; 
that it is not a method of teaching literature, but merely a very formal 
device for tacking down for permanent possession a few facts which have 
already been presented and illuminated in the regular work of the literature 
hour. 

Each of the selections treated in this bulletin is followed by a list of 
questions which call for such facts as should be included in the cumula¬ 
tive review. The cumulative review questions of the first selection must 
not be dropped as the content of the review grows. They should come up 
regularly for recall until the whole course is finished. This will keep the 
review work truly cumulative, and will insure its efficiency in establishing 
in the pupil’s mind a useful and permanent fund of literary facts. Five 
minutes at the beginning of each period of literature work will be adequate 
time for holding the review drill in the case of small classes. 

A SUMMARY. 

Thus we find our plan for the work in literature taking shape. Its 
principal points may be summarized as follows: 

1. The purpose of the course is to give the children such knowledge, 
culture, literary appreciations and good reading habits as may be derived 
from contact with the staple literature of the race. These objects are 
definite, attainable and of essential value. 

2. The content consists of stories and poems which have won and held a 
place in our common literary heritage. 

3. The course is assigned a definite place in the curriculum to consist 
of not less than three periods per week during the last two years of the 
grammar grades. (One of these periods is to be used to stimulate pleasure 
reading and good reading habits.) 

4. All method is aimed directly -at appreciation. Hence the teacher is to 
be story-teller and interpreter. None of the work is to take the form of a 
lesson in oral reading, an exercise in the analysis of language forms, a cram 
in biographical data, or anything else, save an appreciation and understand¬ 
ing of the story or poem in hand. Class activity is to be aroused throughout 
the work. 

5. A list of references is provided for the teacher’s preparation and for 
pleasure reading by the pupils, and a minimum list is suggested as a basis- 
for the course as a whole. 

6. Memory work is required of the pupils, but only after appreciation has 
been aroused. 

7. A systematic cumulative review is provided so that pupils may retain 
such knowledge values as the course holds. This review is to be applied 
for a few minutes at the beginning of each lesson period. 

One phase of the work, the development of good reading habits, has not 
as yet been fully considered. It has been set apart for detailed treatment 
in the following chapter. 


(38) 


CHAPTER IV. 


PLEASURE READING AND GOOD READING HABITS. 


The presentation of the stories and poems of this course to the children is 
aimed to give outright, by virtue of the kind of selections which it contains, 
an appreciation of the most valuable portions of our literary inheritance 
to each boy and girl. But this is by no means the whole object in view. 
If each individual were to end his acquaintance with literature with the 
completion of the selections outlined in this course one of the principal 
purposes of the work would have been neglected. A wholesome contact with 
literature means far more than an appreciation of half a hundred selections, 
however important they may be in themselves. It means, indeed, no less 
than some knowledge of and taste for further association with the whole 
wide world of books. To the end that this wider interest in the world’s 
literature may be developed it is necessary to lay plans for the stimulation 
of tastes and habits in general reading. The success of this phase of the 
work will prove the best result of the school course in literature. 

The Value of Good Reading Habits. 

The values to be found in a friendly liking for good books hardly need to 
be discussed. Surely, there is no need of extended argument to urge their 
importance in the shaping of a w T ell-rounded life. The man who owns no 
general interest in the written lore of his mother tongue must ever be a 
stranger to a thousand and one fragments of useful knowledge which pass 
current among his fellows. The wider lore of legend and history, the varied 
life of mankind beyond the four walls of his immediate experience, the mani¬ 
fold interests which the world has in distant places, in other times, in all 
good things old and new: save through the reading of books these will hold 
but little wealth of thought for him. Besides, he will be blind not only to the 
knowledge wdiich general reading brings: the sentiments, ideals and emo¬ 
tional attitudes which a wide contact with literature inspires in others will 
find no response in him. Poems which have aroused the best sentiments of 
mankind, stories which have strengthened the ideals of a people, novels 
and dramas which have disciplined the pulse beat of our common human 
feelings, interpretations of life which have directed the attitudes of men in 
the issues of social living: to a full share in all of these and to his rightful 
portion in their successors of this day and the days to come he must remain 
a disinherited heir. 


(39) 


Reading Habits, an Unfailing Source of Pleasure. 

But, after all, when moralists and pedagogues are done talking, good 
reading habits fall back upon their simplest and surest basis for justifica¬ 
tion. Men have developed reading tastes and habits not because some one 
has analyzed their results and found them good, but because books have 
proved an unfailing source of pleasure. Each one of us wishes to see life 
more fully than circumstances will permit. Each longs for action such as 
limitations within and without prevent. And to all of us comes the desire 
to identify ourselves through the proxy of the imagination with those who 
have shown forth the action, thought and feeling which we hold as worthy 
of ourselves at our best. To the minstrel of old, to the story-teller and 
writer, to the actor, to the poet, to the novelist, to the explorer of new 
realms of earth or thought, to all pioneers who open the w r ay to new visions 
of life and of the human heart, mankind turns yet as it has ever turned for 
one of its dearest pleasures,—the pleasure that comes with release from the 
limitations of paltry personal experience. 

READING HABITS SHOULD BE MADE A DEFINITE AIM. 

Heretofore we have promised the result of good reading habits as one of 
the dividends of our school work in literature. All too frequently we have 
failed to redeem the promise. Plenty of reasons for this failure may be 
found in the evils of the traditional method and content of the course and 
these have been discussed in an earlier chapter. But the promise may still 
remain unfulfilled in spite of a wider content and in the face of methods 
designed to arouse an appreciation of that content. Like any other 
educational result, if it is to be attained it must be kept steadily in view as 
a definite aim of the work. Our business here is to provide*a way which the 
average teacher in the average school may follow with success in developing 
sound reading habits among average boys and girls. 

The Kind of Books for Pleasure Reading. 

Like any other habit, a friendship for books must be based upon many 
repeated experiences. Our first business, therefore, is to provide suitable 
pleasure reading outside of the regular class work in literature for the 
pupils to read. 

In the making of lists of books for children to read there is no end. 
Every one who has had anything to do with shaping a course of study in 
literature has probably tried his hand at it, and few things have been so 
often and so poorly done. The titles suggested in the following pages and 
in the list entitled, “ Books for Pleasure Reading,” (pp. 46-47.) are there¬ 
fore offered in no spirit of complacent self-assurance that they form an ideal 
list. What is sought in this attempt to set down material for pleasure 
reading is a list which will offer to the teacher books of proved value. It 
aims to make it unnecessary for the teacher to build up without suggestion 
a list of her own. It may help to keep from the shelves of school libraries 
the dead and deadening stuff which is still sometimes found there. 

( 40 ) 


Standards for the Selection of Pleasure Reading. 

The books suggested at the end of this chapter as a basis for pleasure 
Teading have been tested by certain standards. The first and most important 
test for admission is that the boqjc must be one which children have shown 
that they like to read. It is idle to try to urge boys and girls to read what 
•some moralist thinks they should read or what some psychologist thinks 
should be of most interest to them. Every selection in the list has actually 
proved its claim on the interests of the generality of children. 

In the second place, every book in the list has been judged on the side of 
its character. Children, left to themselves, will read bad books as readily as 
good ones. No book on the dime novel order with morbid situations, unreal 
motives, has been included. We can do better than to present morbid situa¬ 
tions. unreal motives and unwholesome heroics where wrong is made to 
appear right and right is made to seem commonplace and uninviting. There¬ 
fore. while no selection has been included because it had a moral tagged on to 
it or some other special ax to grind, nevertheless every one is healthful and 
wholesome in its tone. 

In the third place, the list as a whole has been designed to cover all phases 
of children’s interests in books. Stories of wonder and mystery, of gods and 
superhuman heroes, of dwarfs and fairies and enchantment are included. 
There, too, are the fables and animal stories in which many children delight. 
Tales of pure adventure and perilous exploit are found in abundance. Some 
of these tell of man’s conquest over hardships of nature; other have to do 
with warlike enterprises. Love stories also are there,—clean, simple, dealing 
with the old, old story in ways to arouse high and unselfish ideals. And 
the literature of pseudo-science and of juvenile interest in mechanics, elec¬ 
tricity and toy making is given its due place. Sometimes it is wrapped with 
a narrative; other times it depends upon the charm of its inherent wonders 
to hold its readers. But always it stands ready to lead in the realm of 
natural science through a pleasant door. And the poetry which children, 
and adults too for that matter, care most about is there. For the needs of 
ehildren young or old, for girls and for boys, for those who read little and 
for those who read much, for those whose tastes are reaching into adult 
interests and for those who still stand fresh-eyed upon the first plane of 
'enjoyment the list is wide enough to provide. 

' Besides imposing these standards as to quality, the effort has been made 
to suggest a list which may prove within the means of the ordinary rural 
school. In graded schools it will be necessary to duplicate many of the books. 
Those marked with an asterisk are specially recommended for duplication. 
They have proved of marked interest to children. In case books not listed 
seem desirable, they should be tested by these standards of selection before 
purchase: 

1. They should be of interest to child readers. 

2. They should be sound in content and wholesome in their emotional 
influence. 


(41) 


A Time and Place for the Work. 

In order to secure systematic results it is necessary to set aside a certain 
regular time and place in the curriculum for the stimulation of pleasure 
reading. “What!” teachers may ask, “Do you propose to add another 
straw to the breaking back of our course of study 1 ?” No such outrage is 
contemplated. It is simply proposed here that we should devote a portion 
of the time already apportioned to literature for the specific purpose of 
promoting sound reading habits. If such habits are one of the ends of the 
work in literature, then, like any other portion of the work, their develop¬ 
ment is worth a place in the programme. Otherwise, results will be uncer¬ 
tain and incomplete. 

The plan adopted in this course of study is to set aside one literature 
period per week for the sole purpose of encouraging the reading of good 
books for pleasure. This is a very modest expenditure of time in view of 
the importance of the result to be attained. When we think of all the time 
spent first or last in teaching children how to read it will not appear a waste¬ 
ful thing for us to spend one period a week for two years, or even for four 
years, in leading children to want to read. If possible, the pleasure reading 
period should fall on Friday. On that day there should be. no home study 
assignments, and the children will feel free to take a book home just for the 
fun of reading it. 


A METHOD FOR THE STIMULATION OF PLEASURE READING. 

Now that the books and a time for the work have been found, it remains 
to be considered how the teacher may arouse a desire for pleasure- reading. 
Briefly, the method may be outlined as follows: On the period set aside 
each Friday for the work, the teacher introduces her class to a number of 
suitable books. She may use any or all of the devices to stimulate interest 
suggested hereafter, or she may invent new devices of her own. She may 
exploit one book or several to the pupils. She, may do most of the talking, 
or, better still, may leave most of it to the pupils. But in one way or another 
the period should result in a desire on the part of the children to read some 
of the books at hand for their use. Then, such books as may be sought by 
the children are to be issued to them for their pleasure reading in leisure 
hours, outside of school. 

Devices to Encourage Pleasure Reading. 

What makes a certain pupil desire to read a certain book at a certain 
time is sometimes very hard to say. There are many factors entering into 
such a desire and some of them are so seemingly trivial as to escape our 
attention. The color of the binding, the interest aroused by other books of 
similar appearance or by the same author, the character of the illustrations, 
the effect of some scrap of comment heard at home or on the way to school, 
the presence or absence of other plans for spending leisure time during the 
next few days: these and a host of like factors may give rise to a whim 


( 42 ) 


strong enough to determine the desire of pupils, and especially of those 
'whose tastes for books are still unshaped. In any case such factors help to 
add to the uncertainty of results in a piece of work where results at best 
can not be absolutely foreseen. 

There are, however, other elements tending to make the reading of books 
pleasant or unpleasant which are directly controllable by the teacher. AVith 
attractive books on the one hand and a stock of well considered, effective 
devices for arousing interest in them on the other, the teacher may feel 
assured of a satisfactory percentage of success in the work. Some of the 
devices which have been found most effective in classrooms and library story 
hours where similar work is undertaken are suggested in the following sec¬ 
tions. Now one of them, now another, should be used in such order as may 
seem best adapted to secure successful results. 

Interest in Pleasure Reading Aroused by the Regular Work in Literature. 

One of the most effective and desirable incentives to pleasure reading 
may be found in the appreciations aroused by the regular work in literature. 
If the class work has developed a real delight in the stories taken up there 
the class will be glad to read more of such stories for the sheer pleasure of it. 
For example, if the stories of Arthur have aroused the interest which they 
should excite the class will be open eyed with interest for more of the same 
sort. If the tale of the Trojan War has been made what it should be made, 
the children will be glad to read more of the same or kindred stories. If 
the work of the literature periods does not result in some such desire for 
contact with more of the same sort then it has not fully succeeded. 

At the end of each topic in the course there is a list of books or selections 
under the caption, “For Pleasure Reading.” In these lists have been placed 
stories similar in content, spirit or general, appeal to the selection which 
they follow. They are proposed as suitable material to be introduced during 
the pleasure reading period while the interest of the pupils in their class 
work in literature is still strong. In this way the desire for more, aroused 
in the regular work, may find gratification in the books presented for 
pleasure reading during the Friday period. 

At all times the teacher should feel free to introduce books other than 
those found in the lists following the literature topic then under discussion. 
She should specially encourage the children to ask for such books as they 
would like most to read. 

The First Installment Bait. 

One of the most common devices for stimulating interest in a story is to 
tell the class the first part of it. This should be done in such a way as to 
arouse an interest in the characters and their fortunes. Then the telling 
should cease just as the class has become eager with expectation of coming 
events. There are a number of books, otherwise excellently adapted to 
hold the interest of upper grade pupils, whose first chapters get under way 
so slowly or with such complexity that children have trouble in getting 

( 43 ) 


started with them. Ben Hur, Treasure Island, and A Trip to the Moon 
are examples of this class. In the case of these the teacher should lead the 
pupils to the heart of the story by carrying their interest through the intro¬ 
ductory chapters. 

In some cases the teacher may find it best not to confine her exploitation 
of the plot of the book to its introduction. It may be found more effective 
to skip through the story, touching here and there the high lights of the 
hero’s career. Of course, this must be done so as to arouse but not to 
satisfy the interest of the class. 

The Influence of Comments by Pupils. 

Nothing will float a book so quickly on the flood tide of general class 
appreciation as favorable comment by pupils who are recognized by their 
mates as leaders. Children are prone to feel,—and, it must be admitted, not 
without reason,—that the teacher has some ax to grind when she makes a 
recommendation. The shrewd teacher will find frequent occasion on which 
the pupils themselves may be led to exploit the virtues of their favorite 
books so as to arouse the interest of their fellows. 

Keep the Supply of Books Slightly Below the Demand. 

It is a curious trait of human nature that a thing so common as to be 
within reach of all loses its attraction. At all times the supply of books 
introduced during the pleasure reading period should be just below the 
demand made by the pupils. It is better to have one or two children wait 
for a few days for books than to hold up a surfeiting supply for all. Let 
it be understood by the pupils that the reading of pleasant books is an 
opportunity, not a favor to the teacher or a stern compulsion enforced by 
her. They should be tempted to jump at the chance rather than to feel that 
they need to be coaxed or goaded into it. In case a number want the same 
book, start a waiting list. Each one will desire the book all the more because 
others are anxious for it; and the desire will become all the keener because 
it can not be gratified at once. From time to time as the waiting list grows 
shorter the teacher may call class attention to the fact and give others an 
opportunity to put down their names for the book. 

Place a Premium on Pleasure Reading. 

Occasionally some one who has read and especially enjoyed a good story 
should be permitted to tell parts of it to the class. This should be done in 
the spirit of a treat to the class and as a privilege to the pupil who makes 
the report. It should be considered as a distinction carrying a certain 
degree of prestige with it. Sometimes in the literature, history, or geog¬ 
raphy recitation it will be possible to let some child refer to interesting 
persons or situations met by him in his pleasure reading. Thus, in the class¬ 
room it may be made clear, as life abundantly proves, that the knowledge 
and culture won from general reading has its value. 


( 44 ) 


The Force of Personal Suggestions. 

It will often happen that two or three pupils in a classroom do not wish 
to read anything. Sometimes such indifference is due to causes which no 
amount of patience and skill can surmount. More often the teacher will 
find that she has before her merely the problem of stimulating an interest in 
books in those whose earlier interests have never been aroused. It is a state 
of undeveloped tastes, not defective mentality or perversion that she has 
before her. Such indifferent pupils may sometimes be induced to read by 
means of personal and confidential talks with the teacher. During recess or 
before or after school the teacher may find out what the individual who 
does not wish to read cares most about, wherein his interests lie, which way 
his likes and dislikes turn. Then she may direct such incipient desires as she 
may discover toward some simple book suited to them. 

General Suggestions. 

It is impossible to give in categorical form or to state fully in any form 
the various expedients and devices whereby the claim of a worthy book may 
be made to exert itself upon the children. Each teacher will find that every 
child and every book may be brought together in a different way. The 
sincere appreciation of the teacher herself will generally go a good way 
toward arousing like feelings in the pupils. Sometimes the teacher may be 
able to tell how she has enjoyed a certain selection. Again, a scrap of com¬ 
ment about the author may be used to stimulate interest. Or, a com¬ 
parison favorable to the selection in question may be made to some other 
book known for its charm by the class. The humor in a story may some¬ 
times be sampled in the classroom to arouse a desire, or the tragedy or pathos 
or wonder element or mystery in a situation may be invoked as a lure. Once 
an author has established confidence his name may be used to conjure with. 
The mere fact that a story has to do with the sea, or with animals, or with 
war, or with Indians, or with some other stock content which has already 
proved of interest, may be the signal for a demand upon it. At all times the 
honest single purpose of providing real pleasure reading should dominate. 
The fact that the teacher knows that a good book yields not only pleasure 
but rich profits of many sorts may assure her of the value of her work. 
But a share in the knowledge that a certain book has lessons in it will not 
afford the class any zest for its perusal. Throughout the pleasure reading 
hour the pupils must know as of a surety that there is enjoyment locked up 
in the pages that are offered them: that it is not a lesson in morals, in 
manners, in geography, in history, in general culture, in what not, that is 
before them; but a good time well worth the having and not to be missed 
by an}" one who knows a good time when he sees it. 


\ 


( 45 ) 


BOOKS TOR PLEASURE READING 


The books in the following list are suggested primarily for use by the 
pupils for pleasure reading. Those marked with the asterisk should be on 
the library shelves of every school. Such a collection of reading material 
for the children is within the means of the poorest district. In large schools 
as many as possible of the titles listed should be secured. Duplicates should 
also be provided for those which prove the most useful. 

It will be noticed that a large number of the books mentioned here are 
included in the reference lists, pages 47-48. These have a double value. 
They are of use to the teacher in her preparation and they furnish material 


for pleasure reading by the pupils as 

-*JEsop : Fables. (By Jacobs.) 

Alcott: Little Wom&n. 

Alcott: Little Men. 

Alcott: Old Fashioned Girl. 

Aldrich: Story of a Bad Boy. 

* Arabian Nights. (Lang.) 

:i: Baker : Boys' Book of Inventions. 

Baker: Second Borgs' Book of Inventions. 
^Baldwin: American Book of Golden 
Deeds. 

^Baldwin : Fifty Famous Stories. 

Baldwin : Thirty More Famous Stories. 
Baldwin : Hero Talcs. 

Baldwin : Old Greek Stories. 

Baldwin: The Golden Fleece. 

Barbour: For the Honor of the School. 
Barbour : Behind the Line. 

*Baylor: Juan and Juanita. 

’’'Beard: American Boys' Handybook. 
Blaisdell: Short Stories from English 
History. 

’’'Brooks : Boy Emigrants. 

Burnett: Little Lord Fauntleroy. 

”'Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know. 

Carpenter: Story of Joan of Arc. 
’’'Cervantes: Don Quixote. (Edited by 
Parry.) 

Churchill: Richard Carvel. 

Churchill: The Crossing. 

Churchill: The Crisis. 

Clarke : Story of Caesar. 

Clarke : Story of Ulysses. 

’’'Collodi : Pinoccliio. (Cramp.) 

Comstock : Little Dusky Hero. 

Cooper: Last of the Mohicans. 

Crommelin: Famous Legends. 

’’'Custer: Boots and Saddles. 

>: 'Defoe: Robinson Crusoe. 

’’'Dickens : Tale of Two Cities. 

Dickens : Christmas Stories. 


well. 

Dickens: Oliver Twist. 

* Dodge : Hans Brinker.’ 

Doyle: Sherlock Holmes. 

Du Chaillu: Stories of the Gorilla 
Country. 

Du Chaillu : Land of the Long Night. 
Farmer: Boys' Book of Famous Rulers. 
Ford: The Honorable Peter Sterling. 
Francillon : Gods and Heroes. 

*Grimm : Fairy Tales. 

Greene: King Arthur and IHs Court. 
Greene: King Arthur and His Knights. 
Guerber: Story of the English. 

*Hale: Stories of the Sea. 

Hale: Stories of Invention. 

Hale: Man Without a Country. 
’’’Hawthorne: Wonder Book and Tangle- 
wood Tales. 

Ilenty: The Young Carthaginian. 

Henty : In Freedom's Cause. 

Henty: The Boy Knight. 

*Hughes: Tom Broivn's School Days. 
Hugo: Jean Valjean. 

Jackson : Ramona. 

Johnson : Oak Tree Fairy Book. 

Jordan : Matka and Kotik. 

* Kingsley : Greek Heroes. 

*Ivipling: Captains Courageous. 

’’'Kipling: Jungle Book. 

*Ivipling: Second Jungle Book. 

Lamb: Tales from Shakespeare. 

Lang: The Book of Romance. 

Lanier: Boys' King Arthur. 

Long: Secrets of the Woods. 

*Mabie: Fairy Tales Every Child Should 
Know. 

*Mabie: Myths Evpry Child Should Know. 
*Mabie : Heroes Every Child Should Know. 
*Mabie: Legends Every Child Should 
Know. 


( 46 ) 



MacLeod : The Shakespeare Story Book. 
Maitland : Heroes of Chivalry. 

Marryat: Masterman Ready. 

♦Martin : Emmy Lou. 

Meadowcroft : A B C of Electricity. 
♦Montgomery : Heroic Ballads. 

Mulock : John Halifax, Gentleman. 

Otis : Toby Tyler. 

Otis : Hr. Stubbs' Brother. 

♦Porter : Scottish Chiefs. 

♦Pyle : Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. 
Pyle : Boys' King Arthur. 

Pyle : Men of Iron. 

♦Radford : King Arthur and His Knights. 
♦Raspe : Baron Munchausen. 

Roosevelt and Lodge: Hero Tales from 
American History. 

Ruskin : King of the Golden River. 
Scollard : Ballads of American Bravery. 
♦Scott: Tales of a Grandfather. 

♦Scott: Ivanhoe. 

Scott : Talisman. 

Scott : Quentin Durward. 

Sea well : Little Jarvis. 

♦Sewell: Black Beauty. 

♦Shaw : Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Shute : Land of Song. (3 vols.) 
♦Sloane: Electrical Toy Making.. 


Slocum ; Around the World in the Sloop 
Spray. 

Snedden : Docas, the Indian Boy. 

Spyri : Moni the Goat Boy. (Trans, by 
Kunz.) 

♦Stevenson: Treasure Island. 

♦Swift: Gulliver's Travels. 

♦Tappan : Robin Hood Tales. 

♦Tappan : In the Days of Alfred the Great. 
♦Tappan : In the Days of William the Con¬ 
queror. 

♦Thompson : Wild Animals I have Known. 
Thompson : Krag and Johnny Bear. 
Thompson : Two Little Savages. 
Thompson : Alice of Old Vincennes. 
♦Twain : Tom Sawypr. 

Twain : The Prince and the Pauper. 
♦Verne : Twenty Thousand Leagues Under 
the Sea. 

♦Verne : Mysterious Island. 

Verne : Trip to the Moon. 

Verne : Michael Strogoff. 

♦Wallace : Ben Hur. 

♦Wiggin : Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. 

Wiggin : Polly Oliver's Problem. 

♦Wyss : Swiss Family Robinson. 

Youth’s Companion Series : Stories of 
Purpose and Success. 

Youth’s Companion Series : Daring Deeds. 


MINIMUM LIST OF REFERENCE BOOKS. 


Reference to the following books or their equivalents will be found neces¬ 
sary in the preparation of the teacher for the work outlined in this course. 
Sometimes a single version of a story will prove sufficient. At other times 
several accounts will be of essential value. The reference lists and com¬ 
ments in connection with each topic in the course indicate what reading the 
teacher has need to do in order to get the best results. One thing should be 
noted: these references are not only of value to the teacher. They are 
so simple and so interesting that they may be used as supplementary and 
pleasure reading by the pupils. All of them should be in the school library. 
Perhaps many of them are there now. 


Shaw : Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 
Guerber : Story of the Greeks. 

Baldwin : Old Greek Stories. 

Baldwin : Hero Tales. 

Baldwin : Fifty Famous Stories. 
Hawthorne : Wonder Book and Tangle- 
wood Tales. 

Kingsley : Greek Heroes. 

Hall : Homeric Stories. 

Clarke : Story of Ulysses. 

Clarke : Story of JEneas. 

White : Plutarch for Boys and Girls. 
Farmer : Boys' Book of Famous Rulers. 
Guerber : Story of the Romans. 

Haaren and Poland : Famous Men of Romp. 
Radford : King Arthur and His Knights. 
Mabie : Legends Every Child Should Know. 


Tappan : In the Days of Alfred the Great. 
Guerber: The Story of the English. 
Haaren and Poland : Famous Men of the 
Middle Ages. 

Tappan : In the Days of William the 
Conqueror. 

Dickens : Child's History of England. 
Warren : Stories from English History. 
Scott : Ivanhoe. 

Crommelin : Famous Legends. 

Pitman : Stories of Old France. 

Porter : Scottish Chiefs. 

Scott : Tales of a Grandfather. 

Hale : Storips of the Sea. 

Montgomery : Heroic Ballads. 

Burt : Poems Every Child Should Know. 


( 47 ) 


OTHER USEFUL REFERENCE BOOKS. 

The books in the list below will be found of value to the teacher as a 
basis for preparation, supplementary to the books in the list above. At the 
same time they will serve as a further source of pleasure reading for the 
children. They are listed in the order of their approximate value to the 
teacher and the class: 


Fyle : Knights of King Arthur. 

Francillon : Gods and Heroes. 

Carpenter : Story of Joan of Arc. 

Brooks : Story of the Iliad. 

Clarke : Story of Caesar. 

Mabie : Heroes Every Child Should Know. 
Mabie : Myths Every Child Should Know. 
Baldwin : Th,e Golden Fleece. 

Boswortb : Alfred the Gr t eat: His Life and 
Times. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple. 

Abbott : Life of Hannibal. 

Scudder : Boole of Legends. 

Greene : King Arthur and Ilis Knights. 
Greene : King Arthur and His Court. 
Lanier : Boys' King Arthur. 

Morris : Historical Tales ,— Germany. 
Maitland : Heroes of Chivalry. 

Lamb : The Story of Ulysses. 

Frost : Knights of the Round Table. 

Burt : Herakles and Other Heroes. 

Brooks : Story of the Odyssey. 

Baldwin : Thirty More Famous Stories 
Retold. 


Blaisdell: Stories from English History. 
Church: Stories from English History. 
Church: Stories of the Old World. 

Firth: Stories of Old Greece. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories. 

Gay ley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People _ 
Price : Wandering Heroes. 

Hall: Four Old Greeks. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of 
Greece. 

Johonnot: Stories of Heroic Deeds. 
Johonnot: Stories of Other Lands. 

Lang: The True Story Book. 

Peabody: Old Grepk Folk Stories. 

Perry: The Boys’ Iliad. 

Wallach : Historical and Biographical Nar- 
ratives. 

Hude : Favorite Greek Myths. 

Gray: The Children's Crusade. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece. 

Bulfincli: Age of Fable. 

Yonge : A Book of Golden Deeds. 


the following books are so essential in the preparation of the teacher - 
that they should be on the school shelves: 

Creasy: Fifteen Decisive Battles. Shakespeare: Julius Caesar. 

Gayley : Classic Myths. 


PART II. 


IN THE BEGINNING. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

In this topic will be found Greek stories, most of them well known, felling’ 
of the beginnings of things,—of the days when earth and man were young. 
Much that is introduced is rooted deep in our common culture: for example, 
the story of Pandora, the Greek flood myth, and the exploits of Prometheus. 
Much else is added by way of making atmosphere, color and general setting 
for the tales told here and in later units. The teacher should remember 
that it is as necessary to supply a background of time, place and general 
circumstance in telling a story as it is in setting a play. 

Several objects should be kept in view in presenting this topic: first, to 
build up a background, to set the stage, so to speak, for Greek story; second, 
to give the pupils familiarity with such facts and references found herein 
as are world current; third, to cultivate the emotions of the hearers by 
arousing appreciation for situations that call up wholesome feelings of 
admiration, emulation, sympathy, hatred or contempt; and fourth, to kindle 
an enthusiasm for the worldworn yet ever fresh literature of Greek myth 
and legend. 

The teacher should beware of using too many hard names. Remember 
that the names are “all Greek” to the children, and that if they are to 
become really acquainted with mythological characters it must be by meet¬ 
ing them one by one in an intimate and leisurely way. The following list 
includes all the proper names necessarily involved here: Jupiter, Juno, 
Venus, Mercury, Prometheus, Titans, Pandora, Epimetheus, Deucalion, 
Greece, Mediterranean Sea, Olympus, and Delphi. Other gods may be 
introduced and partially characterized without the use of their names. 
But the topic must be made a story at all hazards, and not a tiresome 
classical dictionary lesson. Let the Greek god family unfold, deity by deity, 
as the stories introduce them. It is better to learn who Minerva was by 
hearing of what she did in certain specific and interesting situations than 
by memorizing a list of colorless attributes and generalizations about her. 

The following references will prove of value for preliminary preparation: 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 6-21. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 11-38. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 37-50. 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 7-32. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 8-17. 

The material for the topic may be found in Shaw and Gayley, save for 
such expansion, emphasis, and omissions in places as is suggested in the 
following treatment of the lesson units. 

4— Bul. 10 (19) 


Preparation and Presentation. 

Lesson Unit One: In the Golden Age. 

Special references: 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 7-13. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 37-44. 

Firth: Stories of Old Greece, pp. 13-16. 

It is necessary in this unit to depart a little from each of the above 
accounts in order to secure the most rational and interesting succession of 
events. A story based on the following outline will present a dramatic 
development of the incidents: 

First, describe the life of the gods in high Olympus. (See Baldwin: 
pp. 7-9; and Shaw: pp. 1-5.) 

Second, tell about the Golden Age. This involves the story of the crea¬ 
tion of the earth,—at first a perfect place,—and the creation of godlike 
men to enjoy it. The gods themselves sometimes came down to visit with 
men in those days. 

Tell how this splendid time passed away because of war between the gods 
and the Titans; how, one by one, ills fell upon the earth until the old race 
of godlike men had a miserable time of it and became savage and wicked. 
Then the gods came down to pay them no more visits. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Palaces of the gods above the clouds on Mount Olympus. 

Lesson Unit Two : How Prometheus Created Man and Gave him Fire 
from Heaven. 

Special references: 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 14-17 ; 23-25. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 6-9. 

Firth: Stories of Old Greece, pp. 89-92. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 8-12. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, p. 44. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece, Yol. II, pp. 5-9. 

Judd: Classic Myths, pp. 60-63. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 25-28. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes, pp. 118-121. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 1-5. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 11-13. 

The last unit ended with man in a dismal plight. This one begins with 
an introduction to the one friend, Prometheus, who stood by man through all 
his increasing troubles. Show how natural it was for Prometheus to love 
mankind by telling the story of his creation of man. Tell how he secured 
the first fire and how Jupiter took it away in spite; and finally how it was 
recovered for the use of men by the bravery of their chaiupion. 


( 50 ) 


Throughout this unit make Prometheus and his brother helpers of the 
world. Tell how they worked to make the earth beautiful again after it 
had been turned into a desert by the wars between the gods and Titans: 
how they traced rivers, planted forests, calmed wild storms, sent warm 
showers, and laid out bright meadows. IIow, above all, Prometheus strove 
with success to give mankind the mastery of the earth through the use of 
fire. A picture should be drawn of the weakness and misery of man before 
he possessed fire. 

When the good works of Prometheus have been fully told, then should 
come the fearful punishment inflicted upon him by Jupiter. But do not 
leave the story without a hint that after long time he is to be rescued by 
another, great friend of the world. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Prometheus stealing fire from the chariot of the sun. 

Lesson Unit Three: Pandora and the Box of Troubles. 

Special references: 

Hawthorne : Wonder Book . 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks , pp. 10-14. 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 18-23. 

Firth: Story of Greece, pp. 93-96. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 44-47. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece, Vol. 11, pp. 11-15. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 28-35. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 13-17. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 6-9. 

Of all the above accounts Hawthorne’s is perhaps best in most respects. 
It loses force, however, because in it Pandora and her mate are presented as 
children. While such a cast of characters may be all very well for story 
telling in the first two or three grades, it would not be most effective for older 
pupils. Unless the principal characters are made adults the story could 
hardly have the significance or dignity required in a sequel to the work of 
Prometheus and in a story presenting, one important episode of the creation. 

The general spirit of Hawthorne’s version and the emotions it arouses 
should be reproduced as far as possible; save that it will be better to repre¬ 
sent Pandora as a gift from the gods that involved a punishment for man 
because of the help given him by the rebellious Prometheus. 

The creation of Pandora by all the gods is an episode of peculiar beauty 
and interest, and is worth detailed presentation. It should be made a 
medium, also, to further acquaintance with the various gods. Through it 
the class will come to know Juno as queen of the heavens, Venus as goddess 
of love, and Mercury as messenger of the gods and patron of artificers. 

The crisis of the story is, of course, the opening of the box, and it should 
be developed with an abundance of vivid detail. Draw a picture of Pan¬ 
dora’s life with all its joys. Then develop the curiosity that made her 

( 51 ) 


* 

unhappy: how it grew and grew until she forgot about all the pleasant 
things about her and thought only of the beautiful box that she had been 
forbidden to open. Trace the struggle with her curosity step by step 
until the final outcome. Do not fail to give the story the vital touch of 
present consequences by reference to the fact that even to this day we have 
sickness, cold, hunger, spite, hatred, and pain. So, too, we have hope, which 
helps us to drive away the busy troubles which fly about to make us 
miserable. Here, as elsewhere, the smack of things present will be found 
to add vividness and the flavor of personal interest to the story. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Pandora opening the box; or, 

The open box. 

Lesson Unit Four : The Flood. 

Special references: 

Shaw: Stories of Ancient Greece, pp. 18-21. 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 26-31. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 13-16. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece, Yol. II, pp. 17-35.' 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 48-50. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 19-20. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 36-38. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 10-13. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 18-23. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes, pp. 126-132. 

In this unit we have the account of man’s increasing wickedness,—due 
no doubt to all the troubles turned loose by Pandora,—the destruction of 
the race by Jupiter, and the founding of a new population by Deucalion 
and his wife. The account given by Baldwin is an excellent basis for the 
story, except that the teacher should substitute the episode of the oracle 
for the chance meeting with Mercury when the event of the restoration of 
the race is reached. At this point it is better to follow the version of Shaw 
or Peabody or Gayley, not only because it is the best known, but also because 
it is more interesting and because it introduces the class to oracles. 

The teacher should have a clear idea about oracles before telling the story. 
(See Shaw: pp. 15-17.) 

Tell the story so as to illustrate and emphasize some of their more 
common characteristics. The following should be woven into the story: 

1. An oracle was the place where gods spoke to men. 

2. A temple stood by the spot. 

3. Reverence and offerings accompanied all appeals to oracles. 

4. The response had a double meaning: the gods answered in riddles. 

The device of bringing the story into touch with the present should be 

employed in the conclusion by referring to the new race as the first of the 
present men. The class will never fail to respond when the wonderful. 


( 52 ) 


beautiful, mysterious or admirable is skillfully brought into some relation 
with them and their present day affairs. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The temple at Delphi; or, 

Deucalion and Pyrrha adrift. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

In the list that follows may be found a rich store of old Greek stories 
suitable to the interests of most children of the fifth and sixth grades. 
This material is meant to be used not only in connection with this topic, 
but in connection with and following the class work on all the remaining 
Greek stories. It should not prove difficult to inspire a keen desire for it. 
But in extremely backward cases, where it seems impossible to encourage 
a self-expressed demand for some of it, short, easy and interesting stories 
should be assigned. 

The teacher should feel that her work in literature is incomplete unless 
the appreciations around in the class work are strong enough to point the 
children toward pleasure reading along similar lines. The following mate¬ 
rial, or such parts of it as may be made available, should be brought to the 
attention of the children during the pleasure reading hour next following 
the class work outlined in the foregoing lessons. Upon the pleasure reading 
of the pupils depends the formation of their reading habits. It must be 
considered a fundamental part of the course, since without it we can not 
attain one of the first objects of the work. (For suggestions and methods, 
see “Pleasure Reading and Good Reading Habits,” pages 39-45. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories. 

Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales. 

Kingsley: Greek Heroes. 

Baldwin: Hero Tales. 

Francillon : Gods and Heroes. 

Firth: Stories of Old Greece. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece. 

Judd: Classic Myths. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Where did the gods live? 

2. In what land is Mount Olympus ? 

3. Who was the ruler of gods and men ? 

4. What sort of beings were the Titans? 

5. Who was Prometheus? 

6. What gift did he bring to man? 

7. How did Pandora bring trouble into the world ? 

8. What was an oracle ? 

9. What was so puzzling about its answers? 

( 53 ) 


HERCULES, THE FRIEND AND HELPER OE MEN 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

The best versions of the exploits of Hercules are full of first class material 
for our course in literature. First, and most important of all from our 
standpoint, they contain a large amount of reference and allusion matter 
that passes current among people of good general culture. Second, they 
enlist the emotions in situations demanding admiration for courage, sacrifice 
and social service, and calling forth indignation or contempt for cowardice, 
envy and selfishness. Third, the stories are easily adjusted to any grade 
of interest. And fourth, they have a never failing charm for children, 
especially for boys, and extend an almost irresistible invitation to further 
acquaintance with hero myth and legend. 

The teacher should first make a general preparation by reading some 
complete sketch of the hero’s career. The account found in Gayley’s 
Classic Myths, pages 234-243 and 132-136, (read in the order given,) will 
prove sufficient for this preliminary preparation. The purpose of this 
general view is to refresh the teacher’s interest in the story, and at the 
same time give her some idea of the relative literary value of its various 
parts. 

Throughout this preparation, and throughout the lesson unit preparation 
as well, the constant effort should be made to see whatever is good or beauti¬ 
ful or inspiring in the story. Hercules’ career must be squared to modern 
standards of heroism. See him always as a helper and friend of men,—a 
lover of order, justice, cleanliness, hospitalty and fair play. 

There is much arrant nonsense adrift about the sanctity of literal ver¬ 
sions of old stories and art for art’s sake in the study of literature. It has 
been counted by some a presumptuous thing, a species of vandalism, to recast 
anything that has come from ancient culture. The result has been that 
in high schools, and sometimes even in grammar schools, stories have been 
presented concerning gods and heroes that would be kicked out of any 
decent home if they appeared in print about the Smiths or the Robinsons. 
Reference is made to this matter here because of the surprise that might 
otherwise be aroused by some of the omissions, insertions and special shad¬ 
ings suggested in the following lesson units. The surprise will be lessened if 
the teacher will remember at all times that her work is not to tell an old 
story so as to do it justice, but rather to tell it so as to do the child justice. 

( 54 ) 



Preparation and Presentation. 

Lesson Unit One: The Youth who Chose Duty Instead of Pleasure. 

Special references: 

Baldwin: Hero Tales, pp. 23-26. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, p. 234. 

Hall: Four Old Greeks, pp. 73-76. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 260-265. 

The stories of Jupiter’s love affairs are not a part of this course. There¬ 
fore, this lesson unit begins with the infant Hercules as the object of the 
divine resentment of Juno. In so far as that resentment needs a motive, 
it will be sufficient to say that Hercules’ father had done something or other 
that displeased Juno. 

The following succession of episodes is suggested: 

1. The strangling of the serpents. 

2. At school to Chiron: Here the class meets for the first time the 
ancient order of centaurs. The essentials in the training of a hero should be 
brought out in detail. 

3. Hercules as a shepherd: The life of the shepherd should be pictured. 
Show Hercules growing strong and brave. 

4. The Choice: In this we have Hercules tiring of a shepherd’s life and 
anxious to go out into the world for the sake of adventure. Juno appears 
again and condemns him to serve his rascally cousin Eurystheus. Then 
comes his choice,—to go his way in the w r orld pleasing himself and without 
thought of service, or to go through the shame of being made to serve 
Eurystheus and to yield his life to work for others. A good preliminary 
description of Eurystheus should be given here, for his character helps to 
make the choice still more worthy of admiration. 

Hercules’ personality must be clearly drawn. Make him a merry giant 
of a fellow, glad to use his courage and strength for the good that he could 
do, and always happy to make others happy. The spirit of Hall’s account 
(see above references) gives the best color to his youth. It should be 
squared to the outline of events suggested above. 

Lesson Unit Two: How Hercules Made the Country Safe. 

Special references: 

Hall: Four Old Greeks, pp. 73-105. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece, Vol. Ill, pp. 15-19. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 83-86. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, p. 235. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 217-232. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 41-42. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 220-221. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 142-152. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes, pp. 6-19. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know, pp. 26-36. 


( 55 ) 


The cowardly Eurystheus makes a striking contrast to the hero. There¬ 
fore, develop his evil character by showing how his craven attributes 
expressed themselves. It is almost as useful from the standpoint of emo¬ 
tional culture to arouse contempt for Eurystheus as to call forth admira¬ 
tion for Hercules. 

This unit opens with Eurystheus plotting to destroy the hero by sending 
him against a fearful lion. The baseness of the plot contrasts well with 
the spirit in which Hercules accepts the labor, for it comes to him as a 
chance to do something to help those who are suffering because of the 
ravages of the beast. In this unit the following points should .guide the 
telling: 

1. How Hercules got his great club. 

2. The fight: This should be worked out in some detail. Let your 
imagination picture the actual contest with the lion, (see Hall’s account, 
reference above,) and then put the picture into words. It will be well to 
leave Hercules at the height of the struggle and to return to Eurystheus 
on his throne, gloating over the expected death of the hero. 

3. The triumphal return: Just as Eurystheus is at the summit of his 
joy over having so easily despatched his enemy, in comes Hercules attended 
by a grateful multitude and bearing the monstrous carcass on his shoulders. 
Here is a good subject and place for a chalk sketch. 

4. The results of the exploit: By his success Hercules wins the love of 
the people and gets his famous lion skin coat. But he also receives double 
hatred from his miserable cousin, who forthwith sends him out to be killed 
by the hydra. 

The remainder of the story needs no outline. The habits and customs of 
hydras should be made plain by it, however, and the emotions aroused at 
the conclusion of the first exploit should be called out again at the success¬ 
ful termination of this. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Hercules with the dead lion; or, 

The hydra. 

Lesson Unit Three: The Cleansing of the Augean Stables. 

Special references: 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 235-236. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece , Yol. Ill, pp. 19-20. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 233-236. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 152-161. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 221-222. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes , pp. 19-35. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know, pp. 36-37. 

No outline is needed to guide the teacher in telling this story. 

The only ethical situation of real meaning is the decision of the hero to 
do the task proposed,—albeit a disagreeable one, humiliating to a hero. 


( 56 ) 


This task, like the others, had obstacles in the way of its fulfillment ; and 
the evasion or surmounting of these by Hercules gives the tale its chief 
interest. 

As this unit is so short, the teacher may well supplement it with the story 
of the capture of the oxen of Geryon. The principal allusion of knowledge 
value in this is the episode of the making of the Pillars of Hercules, by 
which name the two strong promontories on opposite sides of the Strait of 
Gibraltar are known to this day. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The Pillars of Hercules. 

Lesson "Unit Four: Adventures in Quest of the Golden Apples. 

Special references: 

Hawthorne: Wonder Book, (< The Three Golden Apples." 

Hawthorne’s account of this story affords an excellent basis for presenta¬ 
tion. The selection of detail and the arrangement of centers of interest 
leave little to be desired. The teacher may follow that account closely 
with complete success. 

The following may also be used: 

Gayley: Classic Myths, p. 237. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece, Yol. Ill, pp. 24-30. 

Mabie: Myths Every Child Should Knoiv, pp. 3-26. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 226-229. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes, pp. 35-40. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 161-165. 

Franeillon : Gods and Heroes, pp. 245-252. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Atlas holding up the heavens; or, 

Atlas wading through the sea. 

Lesson Unit Five : The Capture of Cerberus. 

Special references: 

Gayley: Classic Myths, p. 238. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, p. 229. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 165-166. 

Franeillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 253-259. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes, pp. 40-42. 

Interest in this story comes from the contact it gives with the myste¬ 
rious underworld, and the never absent element of courage shown in the 
hero. The ghostly underworld should be tempered to the imaginations of 
the class. No haunting pictures should be drawn. Enough will have been 
done if the class is given some general notion of the gloomy home of the 
dead, and the dismal road down into the earth which led there. The fright¬ 
ful dog should be clearly and vividly introduced. He seems to have estab- 


( 57 ) 


lished himself as a necessary part of our common culture. The courage of 
the hero is shown in his braving the dangers of the trip,—a trip to a region 
from which no one,—in Hercules ’ time,—had ever returned; and in subdu¬ 
ing the savage dog, against which all the spirits of the underworld could 
not prevail. Tell how Hercules drew the sharp fangs of the monster before 
he turned him loose at the command of the king; thus making the gloomy 
path safer for the spirits who passed by him on the way to their dreary 
home. 

Bring out always Hercules’ characteristics,—strength, bravery, helpful¬ 
ness, and good nature. Get him identified with his lion skin, club, great 
muscles, and hearty laugh. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The entrance to the underworld. 

Lesson Unit Six: How Antaeus was Conquered. 

Special reference: 

Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales,—“The Pygmies 

(No other reference can take the place of this one for this lesson.) 

This story should follow Hawthorne’s version. In telling it the teacher 
should be sure to make out a case against Antaeus strong enough to warrant 
his death. The tale is another circumstance showing the friendship of 
Hercules for men. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The Pygmies and Antaeus. 

Lesson Unit Seven: The Reward of Friendship and Hospitality: Her¬ 
cules and Alkestis. 

Special references: 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 132-136. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 35-37. 

Hall: Four Old Greeks, pp. 171-218. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 91-94. 

Syle: Milton to Tennyson, (< Transcript from Euripides 9 ’■— 
(Browning). 

No wonder that with all his kindness and service for others Hercules 
won many friendsand no wonder that with his good nature he was always 
welcome to their homes. Here should be drawn the picture of the hero, 
his labors over, for the time, visiting among the grateful people whose 
fields he had drained and whose swamps and forests he had rid of monsters. 
Bring out his never failing humor and cheerfulness; and how quick he was 
to help in useful work, whether harvesting or building or hunting. Every 
one was glad to see him coming, for good times came with him. 

After some general reference to the hospitality that was shown to Her¬ 
cules should come a careful and detailed account of the friendship that 


( 58 ) 


existed between him and King Admetus. Describe Admetus’ home in the 
mountains of Thessaly, a wild northern country, where the traveler needed 
the kindness of the shepherd people. All were welcome in Admetus’ hall, 
but first of all was welcome Hercules. 

After this background has been established by way of introduction, the 
events of the story begin with the gloom and sorrow that fell upon Admetus’ 
land when it was known that the good king must die. Then came the search 
for a substitute and a failure of that search. But just in time, and against 
the will of Admetus, Alkestis, his wife, volunteers to take his place. Her 
vow once made, not even the gods themselves may unsay it. So instead of 
mourning for Admetus the land is plunged into still deeper grief over the 
sad fate of his devoted wife. 

After the death of Alkestis, and after the funeral preparations have been 
made,—and they should be made as gloomy and circumstantial as may be,-^ 
comes Hercules, strikingly in contrast, ignorant of the grief in his friend’s 
hall, and seeking there with his hearty laughter and high spirits the same 
merry times that he had so often had before with his good host, Admetus. 
The class interest will easily be sustained in the ingenious ways in which 
Admetus conceals his loss and makes welcome for the hero. Here follows 
another striking contrast,—on the one hand, Hercules, ignorant of his 
friend’s sorrow, feasting and rioting in his boisterous way; on the other, 
Admetus with his household following the body of Alkestis to the tomb. 

This contrast proves too much for one old servant, who can not refrain 
from destroying the ill-timed merriment of the guest. (What more human 
than this touch?) And then comes the mighty wrath of the hero and his 
terrible resolution to wrest the dead queen from Death himself. 

The next act in this story is the most dramatic in all the incidents of the 
life of Hercules. On the one hand we have Hercules hiding by the tomb, 
ready to grapple with Death himself for his friend’s sake,—on the other, 
is Admetus in his black draped halls with his miserable household about 
him. He does not know that the hero is by the tomb ready to fight to bring 
back his wife. 

For several reasons, the struggle at the tomb need not be presented. Let 
the class turn back to Admetus and watch with him as he mourns through 
the night. 

The climax should be brought out of the first dawn light. A watchman 
from the housetop tells the king that Hercules is coming. Hospitality 
moves him again to conceal the signs of grief so that the guest may be 
undisturbed by them. Then, step by step, Hercules forces his host to 
take the pretended captive. And, finally, comes the discovery of Alkestis 
alive and well. 

Let Hercules tell why Alkestis deserved it and why Admetus deserved 
it, too. 

Conclude the story with Hercules’ refusal to stay. It would have been 
a pleasure to have visited and rejoiced with his friends. But his work 
called him away to other labors that must not be shirked by one who had 

( 59 ) 


chosen duty instead -of pleasure. Nevertheless, he was happy as he went 
on his way. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The tomb. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

The Hercules stories suggest a wealth of hero tale and legend as available 
for pleasure reading. It should be kept in mind that the following list 
is far from inclusive. The teacher may introduce to her class any books 
at hand which will prove useful. They need not be centered on the exploits 
of Hercules or, for that matter, upon other Greek heroes. The following, 
liow T ever, should make special appeal to class interests when the Hercules 
stories have been told. 

Hall: Four Old, Greeks (esp. pp. 133-169; 171-217). 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know. 

Hawthorne: Wonder Book. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes. 

Kingsley: Greek Heroes. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece. 

Mabie: Myths Every Child Should Know. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What were some of the great labors that Hercules performed? 

2. What are the Pillars of Hercules ? 

3. Who was Atlas? 

4. Describe the appearance of Hercules. 

5. What sort of character did he have ? 

6. Who was Antseus? 


THE ADVENTURES OE THESEUS 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

The story as here planned is not designed to include all the many inci¬ 
dents in Theseus ’ career. Many of them, if told in detail, are horror stories 
of the first water: such as the slaying of the Pine Bender, and the slaying 
of Sciron. Others have no more educational value than a hundred other 
unknown tales. And at least one presents the hero as a base knave. Just 
enough has been included here to give Theseus’ life vivid reality and to 
bring out the chief knowledge and emotional values that the story contains. 

Care should be taken to make each step in the story contribute in the 
portrayal of Theseus as a character moved by ideals of bravery and service. 
He should be made a second Hercules: one eager to serve his fellows and 
happy to use his strength for the right. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Kingsley: Greek Heroes — “Theseus.” 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 194-209. 

Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales—“The Minotaur.” 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 147-208. 

Burt: Favorite Greek Myths , pp. 172-183. 

The above will furnish abundant material for both of the following lesson 
units. 

Lesson Unit One: How Theseus Came to his Father. 

The dramatic situations in this unit are as follows: 

1. The winning of the sword and sandals: how Theseus earned the right 
to go to his father. 

2. The slaying of the Club-carrier. 

3. The destruction of Procrustes. 

4. How Theseus was received by his father. 

The first climax should be developed carefully from the parting charge 
of the king to his wife, through the repeated trials of the young Theseus to 
meet the test imposed, to his final success in rolling away the stone and 
winning the sandals and sword. 

The story of Procrustes should also be worked out in detail. Do not fail 
to bring out in it some comment on the word “procrustean,” as now used 

( 01 ) 


in describing any unnatural and violent means to secure conformity to 
certain fixed standards. Illustrate the modern meaning of the adjective 
and see that the class really understand it. 

Chalk Sketch : 

Theseus rolling away the stoue. 

Lesson Unit Two: How Theseus Killed the Minotaur. 

In this lesson unit there are several references of common knowledge 
value. The incident of the black sails and the meaning of the terms 
minotaur and labyrinth are of this sort. The emotional climaxes should be 
worked out as follows: 

1. The resolution of Theseus to be one of the seven youths: In this the 
various factors tending to sway his decision should be made clear: on the 
one hand, safety for himself, joy for his father,—and continued suffering 
for the whole city; on the other, the risk of his life, misery for his father,— 
and the chance to save his city from the unnatural tribute. The class 
should be brought to go through the decision with Theseus. This may be 
done by presenting in vivid fullness the scene where the old father pleads 
with him not to go on the desperate adventure. If well told it will not 
be hard to get the class to take the same high ground of service to city 
instead of to self that the hero took. 

2. The aid of Ariadne: This touch of romance makes a true plot of what 
would be otherwise little more than a mere incident. The device of the ball 
of yarn adds the necessary spice of ingenuity and contrivance. 

3. The fight with the Minotaur. 

4. The refusal of Ariadne to go with Theseus: Here the teacher had best 
follow Hawthorne’s version, which makes Ariadne as excellent a daughter 
to her father as she was a friend to Theseus. 

5. The death of the King. 

6. Theseus, made king, sends for his mother. This final touch adds another 
situation in which the feelings of the class are aroused in sympathy with an 
act of filial devotion. The very beautiful relations brought out between 
Theseus and his parents are the most useful of all in inspiring sound 
admiration and attitude on the part of the children. 

As has been said, Hawthorne’s version of the parting between Theseus 
and Ariadne is the best version. But if it is not available, at any rate do 
not re-tell the old slander of how Theseus abandoned his rescuer on an 
island. Such an act can not be explained away or squared to any standard 
of common decency,—not to say heroism. Omit it by all means. Do not 
mar the climax of a brave, unselfish career by making the hero guilty of a 
most infamous wrong to one to whom he owed everything. It is necessary 
here, as in so many Greek stories, for the teacher to beware of making a 
hero of a villain. Remember that you are arousing ideals in the hearts of 
present day children, not in prehistoric Greeks, and that it is necessary 
to feel perfectly free in handling the facts of the story so that the ideals 
may be sound and of present day worth. Let ideals of courage, unselfish- 

( 62 ) 


ness and service to others be built from the story of Theseus; and shape the 
story boldly to attain those ends. Baldwin’s version sets an excellent 
example in this respect, although he is surpassed by both Kingsley and 
Hawthorne in the vividness of their pictures and their spirited development 
of the action. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Diagram of labyrinth. 

The old king watching from the cliff. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Kingsley: Greek Heroes , “Theseus.” 

Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales, “The Minotaur.” 

Baldwin : Old Greek Stories. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What was the most famous deed that Theseus is said to have done? 

2. What was the Minotaur? 

3. Who was Procrustes? 

4. Tell the incident of the black and white sails. 


( 03 ) 


HOW PERSEUS KILLED THE MEDUSA. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This story demands a place here because it is unquestionably a part of our 
common literary lore. Its admission, however, does not mean that we shall 
emphasize its horrors. Because of these horrors we shall get over the story 
in not more than two lessons, and shall tone down whatever details seem 
specially harrowing. Children of to-day need protection from the monsters 
which inhabit their imaginations much more than did the villagers and 
forlorn maidens of legendary Greece from the monsters of their fens and 
caverns. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Hawthorne: Wonder Booh, “The Gorgon’s Head.” 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 88-114. 

Kingsley: Greek Herpes, pp. 1-39. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 48-51. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 225-231. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece , pp. 31-40. 

Firth: Stories of Old Greece, pp. 97-108. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know, pp. 3-25. 

Mabie: Myths Every Child Should Know, pp. 112-139. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes, pp. 87-102. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 137-161. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 60-78. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 240-249. 

The details should be built up about the following interesting situations: 

1. Perseus and his mother set adrift. 

2. The aid of Minerva and Mercury. 

3. The encounter with the Three Gray Sisters. 

4. The visit to the Maidens of the Hesperides. 

5. The slaying of the Medusa. 

6. How the wicked king was punished. 

7. How the old prophecy was fulfilled. 

It is not necessary or worth while to go back of Perseus’ childhood in 
telling the story. Begin with the sending of Perseus and his mother away 
in the chest because of the prophecy. 


( 04 ) 



Use the name Gorgon as a synonym for Medusa, so that the class may 
become acquainted with both titles. 

The sub-plot setting forth the story of Andromache may be omitted. It 
is a pleasant enough story, but contains no literary values in common 
circulation. 

Chalk Sketches: 

The finding of the chest by the fisherman. 

Perseus pursued by the Gorgons. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

See the list given above under "Preparation and Presentation.” 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who was Medusa, the Gorgon? 

2. What became of her? 

3. Tell the main events in the story of Perseus. 


5 —Bul. 10 


( 65 ) 


THE ARGONAUTS AND THE GOLDEN ELEECE 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This story has much to warrant its place in our course of study. It ranks 
close behind the story of Hercules and the Siege of Troy in its richness in 
commonly used allusions. It possesses, also, situations of excellent emotional 
value. Bravery, truth, patience, fortitude, and tried friendship find strong 
expression in it; and these virtues, expressed in action under stirring 
circumstances and in a bright setting of the marvelous and spectacular, 
claim the admiration of the children who hear of them. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Baldwin: The Golden Fleece . 

Kingsley: Greek Heroes, “Jason.” 

Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales, “The Golden Fleece ” 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 63-66. 

Church: Stories of the Old World, pp. 7-46. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 52-61. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 263-274. 

Burt: Herakles and Other Heroes, pp. 60-78. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 244-249. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 162-184. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 84-99. 

Any one of the first three of the above references will prove sufficient 
for the teacher’s preparation. The account by Baldwin is the best. If 
the teacher uses it, she should summarize in a few sentences the story of 
JEson, Jason’s father. 

Lesson Unit One: The Youth of Jason; How the Quest Began. 

The youth of Jason in the Centaur’s cave is the first topic to receive 
detailed presentation. The description of the training of the young heroes 
will prove of interest to the class, and will give rise to healthy reactions in 
response to the boy life it sets forth. Besides, it will give the pupils renewed 
acquaintance with Hercules and the excellent tutor, Chiron. 

The sports and labors of the young heroes, their studies and athletic 
training, and the delights of the cave life in the hills should be presented 
circumstantially. Somewhere in this sketch should be woven a brief account 
of the identity and family affairs of Jason. 

( 66 ) 



The principal events and situations leading up to the preparations for the 
voyage are as follows: 

1. Jason’s resolve to go forth and win back the kingdom wrongly seized 
by his uncle. 

2. His encounter with the old woman and his kindness to her. 

3. The prophecy of the talking oak, told to Jason by the city folk who 
greeted him with such surprise when they found him with only one sandal. 
It will be well from the standpoint of dramatic surprise to let Jason remain 
ignorant of this prophecy until told of it by the usurping king himself. 

4. Jason’s appearance before the king, the king’s fear and anger, his 
question and Jason’s answer. 

When the king asks Jason what should be done by one who wishes to see 
the last of an enemy there is a good opportunity to bring out all that it is 
worth while to tell about the origin and nature of the golden fleece. Do 
not go into a long digression on the unknown and tiresome story of Phrixus 
and Helle. Enough to say, that a ram with a golden fleece had fled from 
Greece to a land far beyond the sea, and that its beautiful fleece was still 
there, guarded by many dangers. The candor and sportsmanlike truth¬ 
fulness of the young hero, fairly caught by the crafty question of his uncle, 
should not remain unseen. He proposed the very hardest feat that he 
could think of, well knowing that he would have to perform it. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The Centaur’s Cave. 

Lesson Unit Two: Preparations for the Voyage; the Remarkable Trip. 

The principal matters of interest in this unit are as follows: 

1. The advice of the talking oak. If the encounter of Jason with the old 
woman at the ford has been well told, it will not be hard to arouse a keen 
interest in the help given by Minerva through her prophecies, and especially 
through her statue, carved from a branch of the talking oak for the figure¬ 
head of the boat. 

2. The gathering of the heroes. All of the most prominent and best 
known,—Orpheus, Hercules, Atlanta, Lynceus, with his sharp eyes, Castor 
and Pollux, the wonderful twins, hatched from an egg,—should be identified 
by their special attributes. 

3. The building of the ship. Bring out the fact that it was a rowboat, 
stoutly built to endure great perils, but only about twice the length of the 
room. 

4. The launching. Here Orpheus appears to his best advantage. Why 
was the ship named the Argo? 

5. The encounter with the six armed giants. 

6. The fight with the Harpies. 

7. The escape through the clashing islands. 

8. How Hercules strayed from his companions. Don’t forget to tell that 
he did not give up his adventure for all of that, but trudged onward on foot 
and came to the land of the fleece before the boat arrived with the rest. 

( 67 ) 


9. The arrival at the court of the king who kept the fleece, and the 
discovery by the heroes of the new perils before them. 

The route of this remarkable journey should be drawn out with bright 
chalk on a sketch map of the region concerned. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The launching of the Argo; or, 

The ship passing between the Clashing Islands. 

Lesson Unit Three: The Winning of the Fleece; The Return. 

The principal steps in this last unit of the story are as follows: 

1. The taming of the fire-breathing, brazen bulls. Here we are introduced 
to Medea and her magic, and henceforth her affairs are quite as important 
as those of Jason,—and her exploits even more astounding. 

2. The sowing of the Dragon’s teeth. 

3. The drugging of the dragon, and the escape with the fleece. The 
journey home should be made without incident. 

Let the story close with the restoration of old JEson’s youth through 
Medea’s witchcraft; the destruction of the scheming Pelias; and the crown¬ 
ing of Jason. Do not tell all the bad things, and repeat all the slanderous 
gossip that you can find about Medea. The narration of such events as the 
slaying of her brother, and later of her own children, serves no useful 
purpose. Let the story end with Jason and Medea ruling well over a grate¬ 
ful land. 

The key to Jason’s character is to be found in the parting words of old 
Chiron, when the hero left his cave to meet life: 

“Speak kindly to all. 

Be as good as your word.” 

Remember that it is a brave and wise Jason whose life you are putting 
before your class: a hero strong and kind, considerate of others, and eager 
to help them. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The Golden Fleece, guarded by the dragon. (Use colored chalk.) 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Baldwin: The Golden Fleece. 

Church: Stories of the Old World. 

(See lists on page 53 and page 60; also, pleasure reading reference list on 
page 46.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What did Jason do? 

2. How did he go to get the fleece? 

3. Who were the Argonauts? 

4. What strange experience did Jason have with the dragon’s teeth? 


( 68 ) 


COLUMBUS. 


General comment and suggestion. 

Poems of patrotism hold a large place in the affections of the world. 
Therefore, we shall introduce into our course a number of typical short 
selections wherein are sung heroic enterprises and bold exploits held dear 
in the memory of our nation. We shall find these selections possessing the 
qualities which mark the poetry that the people love: they are simple, short, 
and alive with spirited action. 

Joaquin Miller’s Columbus has all of these qualities. Through it we shall 
bring our pupils to feel as they have never felt before a thrill of admiration 
for the courage of the great Admiral. Besides, in stimulating an apprecia¬ 
tion for this poem we shall help to build up a love for the poetry which has 
won for itself a place in our common literary culture. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The children already know the story of Columbus. It will be necessary, 
however, to review by brief questioning and comment the principal points in 
his career. Bring out the disappointments which beset his hopes before he 
secured aid from the queen of Spain. Recall the terrors and superstitions 
which filled the minds of the sailors of his time. Emphasize especially the 
hardships of the voyage and the repeated efforts of the sailors to get him to 
turn back. This review of the story of Columbus should make clear his 
heroism: how he held to his purpose through mockery, disappointment, 
hardship, and mutiny. 

If references to the story of Columbus are needed, the following will 
prove of value: 

Guerber: Story of the Thirteen Colonies, pp. 36-59. 

Tapp an: American Hero Stories, pp. 1-13. 

McMurry: Pioneers on Land and Sea , Chap. VII. 

Higginson: Booh of American Explorers, pp. 17-52. 

After the essentials of the story have been reviewed take up the poem and 
read it with interwoven interpretation. Bring out through comment and 
class response to questions the meaning of each situation. Make clear how 
the little fleet left the mainland far behind them; how the Azores Islands, 
then farthest west of all land known to sailors, faded in the distance; how 
the very stars at night seem no longer to be in their accustomed places. 

( 69 ) 


Explain why the men wished to turn back. Their little ships were not 
built to stand the strain of a long voyage over a rough ocean and the sailors 
were worn out with hard work and ceaseless watching. Besides, they had 
never been so far from land before. The Atlantic was known to them as the 
“Sea of Darkness.” They felt sure that they would be swallowed up in 
one fashion or another if they kept on their course. 

In the midst of all this Columbus must be seen unwavering in his determi¬ 
nation. He had one thought only: to sail on and on until the goal was 
reached. His heroism is to be fully appreciated only when we see him 
holding to his purpose when every influence seemed determined to make 
him give up. 

After the poem has been read and interpreted, read it through smoothly 
without interruption. Then, if the pupils have had the song among the 
selections of their school music, they will be glad to sing Preston’s Land to 
the Leeward! 

One lesson should prove sufficient for the presentation of this topic. 

The poem may be found in the following: 

Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know. 

Gayley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People. 

Stevenson: Bays and Deeds. 

Jones: The Jones Readers:.Booh Six. 

Stevenson: Poems of American History. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Columbus ’ ship at sea and the gleam of light in the distance. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Hale: Stories of the Sea. 

Williams: Romance of Exploration. 

Also, other short poems, such as: The English Flag, The Captain’s 
Daughter, The Landing of the Pilgrims. 


(70) 


OTHER SHORT POEMS 


Besides the ten short poems which have been given special place in the 
course, the teacher should introduce others from time to time. The general 
purpose and character of this work has been discussed on page 31 in the 
introduction. The method has been indicated in greater or less detail in 
connection with all the poems exploited herein and particularly in the case 
of “Horatius at the Bridge.” Similar methods should be used in the pres¬ 
entation of the selections suggested here. 

These poems should be distributed throughout the course. This will mean 
that the poems will sometimes find themselves following stories which are 
based upon very different conditions of time, place and general circum¬ 
stance. For example, we have just seen the selection, ‘‘ Columbus,” follow¬ 
ing the story of the Argonauts. In such cases it is necessary that the class 
be given due and sufficient notice of the change in background. It has 
been thought better to require a few sudden shifts of scenery and stage 
setting than to bunch all the short poems dealing with American history 
and other modern content together in one place. 

The following short poems are recommended for introduction at intervals 
throughout the course: 

Hemans: Casabianca (2) (3). 

Longfellow: The Village Blacksmith (2). 

Longfellow: The “Cumberland” (1) (3). 

Moore: A Visit from Saint Nicholas (2). 

Whittier: Barbara Frietchie (1) (2) (3). 

Scott: Lochinvar (1) (2) (3). 

Southey: Inchcape Bock (2). 

Hood: I Remember, 1 Remember (2). 

Woodworth: The Old Oaken Bucket (2). 

Osgood: Driving Home the Cows (1) (2). 

Robin Hood and Little John (1). 

Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale (1). 

Robin Hood’s Death and Burial (1). 

Wolfe: Burial of Sir John Moore (1) (2) (3). 

Lowell: The Relief of Lucknow (1) (3). 

Key: Star Spangled Banner (1) (2). 

Stedman: Kearney at Seven Pines (1). 

Lathrop: Keenan’s Charge (1). 

( 71 ) 



Riley: The Old Man and Jim (1). 

Longfellow: The Ship of State. (From u The Building of the 
Ship.”) (1) (2). 

The numbers following the selections above indicate which of the collec¬ 
tions of poetry below contain them: 

(1) Gayley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People. 

(2) Burt: Poems Every Child should Know. 

(3) Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 


( 72 ) 


HOW CADMUS BUILT A CITY AND GAVE MEN THE 

ALPHABET. 


Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories, pp. 75-87. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 42-44. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 95-97; 114-117. 

Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales, (C The Dragon’s Teeth.” 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 25-30. 

Mabie: Myths Every Child Should Know, pp. 140-173. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 45-48. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 48-53. 

The best single reference is Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales. 

This story is a sequel to the story of Europa, but as the latter myth has 
few or no values for our course it may properly be reduced to the place of 
a mere introduction to and motive for the exploits of Cadmus. Do not, 
therefore, develop the details of the love story that resulted in the abduc¬ 
tion of Europa. Simply tell how, one day, the king’s daughter was carried 
from her home in Asia across the iEgean Sea on the back of a wonderful 
snow white bull; how her father tried in every way to regain her; and how, 
all else failing, he sent his son Cadmus to find her and bring her home. 
The story as told by Baldwin gives this introduction in excellent proportion. 

The points most worthy of emphasis in Cadmus’ adventures are as 
follows: 

1. The abduction of Europa. 

2. The visit to the oracle of Delphi. 

3. The fight with the dragon and the experience with the sons of the 
dragon’s teeth. 

4. The giving of the alphabet. 

5. The giving of the name Europa to the new land. 

Each of these points should be effectively presented, for in them will be 
found the common culture values of the story. 

Occasions will be found for arousing admiration for the hero in his 
bravery in facing the terrors of the sea, in his piety and obedience to the 
gods, in his courage in slaying the dragon, and in his resourcefulness as a 


( 73 ) 



pioneer and colony founder. But, after all, the interest of the class will 
rise to its highest pitch in response to the wonder and marvel of the 
episode of the dragon’s teeth. 

The teacher should not fail to have a blackboard mass map of the H3gean 
Sea and surrounding lands, and should trace with bright chalk the travels 
of Cadmus as the story progresses. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales, “The Dragon’s Teeth.” 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes. 

Brooks: The Boy Emigrants. 

(See lists on page 53 and page 60; also, pleasure reading reference lists on 
pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What was an oracle? 

2. What interesting experience did Cadmus have with a dragon and its 
teeth ? 


( 74 ) 


BAUCIS AND PHILEMON: HOSPITALITY AND ITS 

REWARD. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

Here is one of the most beautiful of all the Greek myths,—less known 
than it should be, yet of peculiar value in a literary course that aims to 
introduce us to the spirit of our common story lore. The emotional culture 
to be gained from it is such as can not w T ell be omitted in the development 
of a well-rounded set of appreciations. Hospitality is its theme,—generous, 
unaffected, and untainted by selfish ends or hope of reward, but yielding 
its hundredfold reward for all that;—the hospitality that answers true to 
the demands of to-day just as it did to the needs of simpler times long past. 
Perhaps the feelings aroused by it are more to be striven for nowadays, when 
altruism and human kindness seem in danger of getting clean away from 
their real foundation,—the oldtime kindness of an open hearth. 

For a change, too, this tale affords us something other than a song of 
“arms and the man,”—a pleasant variation from valor and bloodshed and 
tumult. Yet it is so full of quiet movement and homely realism and unex¬ 
pected outcome that the interest of children is easily sustained. It will be 
easy to warm their feelings to a full appreciation of the beauties and virtues 
of quiet, homely, home life. So strong is its hold, when well told, that even 
to a child may be borne in the truth in concrete form that a dinner of herbs, 
under certain circumstances, is better for all concerned than a stalled ox. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Hawthorne: Wonder Book, (< The Miraculous Pitcher.” 

Mabie: Myths Every Child Should Know, pp. 174-196. 

Firth: Stories of Old Greece, pp. 51-57. 

Judd: Classic Myths, pp. 145-149. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 105-107. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 184-188. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 43-44. 

Hawthorne’s version will prove an adequate basis of preparation. 

One lesson unit is sufficient for the story. Emphasize the contrast between 
the boorish treatment of the travelers by the villagers and the unstinted 


(75) 



hospitality of Baucis and Philemon. Do not let the class into the secret that 
the vagrant pair are gods in disguise,—leave that to the final climax when 
they discover themselves to their hosts, or let it crop out little by little in 
the telling of their miraculous acts. 

Bring out the simple pleasure that the old couple took in caring for the 
strangers: that they were happy in making their visitors happy. Bring out, 
too, the fact that it is the spirit of the act that ennobles a kindness; and that 
rough walls, and common fare, and cracked crockery may offer a more 
genuine welcome than many a fine home. 

Especially should be emphasized by descriptive word, and detail of act 
and motive and circumstance, the happy home life that is revealed in every 
line of the story. The final expression of this is to be seen in the wish of 
Baucis and Philemon that death should not separate them. 

Although the facts of the story, as has been said, are not well known, its 
spirit is found in the common saying,—“They entertained an angel una¬ 
wares. ” The events should be built up to develop this idea with its 
attendant consequences, and the phrase itself should be used in discussing 
the conclusion of the story. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The hut of Baucis and Philemon on the hill and the village below. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Grimm: Fairy Tales. 

Hawthorne: Wonder Book, u The Miraculous Pitcher.” 

Ruskin: The King of the Golden River. 

(See lists on page 53 and page 60; also, pleasure reading reference list, 
page 46.) 

* 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What was one of the most beautiful and common virtues of old Greek 
home life? 

2. What do we mean when we say that some one has ‘ 1 entertained an angel 
unawares ’ ’ ? 


(76) 


HOW MIDAS FOUND SOMETHING WORTH MORE 
THAN GOLD. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This story is worth knowing as the source of a very common allusion; 
and at the same time it stands as a time-tested parable on the evil that is in 
the mad race for gold. If the teacher can arouse the feeling that there are 
many things in life better than gold and not to be had through gold, one 
force will have been set to work in the child’s nature that will work for 
rational living and sound appreciation of relative values. Surely there was 
never a time when the force of this old story could be used to more urgent 
purpose. 

This is the theme of the tale: that love of the beauties of nature, kindness 
of heart, usefulness of purpose and effort, family affections and self-respect 
are worth more than all the gold under or on top of the earth. Nor can they 
be had through gold, but are rather to be found failing and dwindling 
away when love of riches takes an overmastering hold. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Hawthorne: Wonder Book, “The Golden Touch.” 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 87-90. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 179-180. 

Judd: Classic Myths, pp. 109-114. 

Mabie: Myths Every Child Should Enow, pp. 92-111. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 177-179. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes, pp. 33-39. 

Hyde: Favorite Greek Myths, pp. 122-128. 

One lesson unit will probably be sufficient for the story. If more time is 
desired, the story may be divided at the point where Midas makes his first 
test of the golden touch. This is a natural place for pausing, as it leaves the 
king at the summit of his joy. 

By long odds, the best reference in the above list is that of Hawthorne’s 
Wonder Book. In this there is a dash and movement, a full visualization 
of scenes, and a kindly touch of humor which will all be helpful to the story 
teller who wishes a model. In basing the story on this interpretation, the 


(77) 



teacher should be careful to preserve such of the detail and verbal touches 
as are necessary to preserve the humor. It is a safe rule to say that whenever 
an author has detected and brought out humorous situations, they can best 
be carried over to the appreciation of the class by a close following of the 
author’s expression. A liberal paraphrase is death to such lighter touches 
unless the teacher herself be a humorist. 

The story falls into four subdivisions, each dealing with an important 
step in the development of the conclusion of the story,—how Midas found 
something better than gold. 

1. Midas’ discontent and longing. 

2. How Midas enjoyed the golden touch. 

3. How Midas came to see how little he had gained and how much he 
had lost. 

4. The release from the charm. 

In the first of these there are two distinct pictures to be brought to view: 
first, the gloomy old king in his royal palace, spending his whole life in the 
aimless search for wealth; second, the king in his treasure vault enjoying his 
hoard, while so much that was worth doing and enjoying remained without, 
unknown and unappreciated by him. 

In the second part of the story we have a series of shifting views of Midas 
in the full swing of exercising his new powers. All of the transmutations 
wrought by him should be so presented as to leave some suggestion of their 
folly and inutility. 

The third part begins with the breakfast of the king, and follows him 
through one disappointment after another until his misery reaches its 
climax in the loss of his daughter. 

The fourth and last part develops his remorse, the directions whereby he 
is shown the way to a release from the gift that has become a curse, and the 
eager haste in which he secures this release and gains true happiness. 
Humor and pathos are specially well marked in this last part. 

The following problems and questions should be discussed: 

What did Midas have, in the first place, that should have made him 
happy ? 

How did he fail to get the most out of what he had by always thinking 
of nothing but treasure ? 

What sort of a king and father do you suppose his mad desire made him ? 

What did he lose by turning his clothes into gold? 

Did he improve the roses by changing them? 

Was the golden bowl any better as a mush bowl than the crockery one 
had been? 

Suppose that his misfortunes had not driven him to such painful extremes, 
would he have been any the better off to have had half the world turned 
to gold? 

How would you like to be on a desert island with plenty of gold but 
nothing to eat or drink ? 

What different things did Midas find to be worth more than gold ? 


(78) 


At the end let the class have a free range for discussion of the story. 
Bring out all the things that they would rather have than gold. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Midas in his treasure vault, counting his gold. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Hawthorne: Wonder Book. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes. 

Arabian Nights. 

(See lists on page 53 and page 60; also, pleasure reading reference list, 
page 46.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Briefly tell the story of Midas. 

2. What did Midas find to be worth more than gold ? 

3. Why do we say, “As rich as Midas”? 


(T9) 


THE TROJAN WAR 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

The story is probably the best known of all Greek myths and legends. 
It has been printed in many translations and adaptations, and has for a long 
time been one of the most interesting and persistent of world known stories. 
This widespread and lasting currency of the tale guarantees its literary 
value. It would not have been used so long, nor so much, nor by so many 
men, unless it had in it the power to arouse emotions profitable to the hearer. 

For the most part these emotions aroused by the situations in the story 
are useful, worthy feelings that serve to adapt us properly to similar situa¬ 
tions in our own experiences, and are hence of sound educational value. But 
at times we find that the old tale asks for emotional attitudes which, however 
sound they may have been among prehistoric Greeks, are harmful’ and 
vicious for us to-day. How, then, shall we treat such situations in the story 
as threaten to produce admiration for conduct that should be despised? 
Sometimes the easiest way will be to leave out the dangerous part. But 
when the preservation of the continuity of the story makes this impossible 
two other courses are open: either to recast the facts so as to give a different 
and better ethical tone to the behavior in question; or to present the situa¬ 
tion with the evil so clearly drawn that no one will be in the slightest danger 
of mistaking it for good. A willingness to thus modify the facts of the 
story so as to serve the moral welfare of the pupil should mark the teacher 
who wishes to get the most value from this work. 

The knowledge values to be drawn from the story of the Trojan War are 
very well worth while. Many of its facts, names, incidents, and references 
have become firmly worked into our current literature and are the subjects 
of frequent allusion. 

Another substantial value arises from the keen interest of the pupils in 
the story. This interest, properly guided, will result in increased zest for 
Greek legend, and will whet the tastes of the class for other good tales of 
adventure and for pleasure reading in general. 

The teacher should remember that the story has unity of plot only in so 
far as the details are made to focus upon the one great final crisis,—the fall 
of Troy. Every minor crisis in the tale is just one step toward the final 
issue. None of the episodes narrated should be left as mere isolated and 
incidental occurrences, but each should be given its force in shaping the final 
outcome of the story. 

Avoid the weakening effect of a confused multitude of names and events. 
The characters who need identification by name are: Jupiter, Mars, Juno, 

(80) 



Minerva, Venus, Vulcan, Neptune, Thetis, Pelias, Paris, Helen, Menelaus, 
Ulysses, Achilles, Agamemnon, Nestor, Iphigenia, Protesilaus, Patroclus, 
Diomedes, Hector, Priam, and Andromache. 

Until a name is thoroughly familiar to the class it should be used only 
with some qualifying phrase, so that the character to whom it is attached 
may be properly identified. Thus,—“Priam, King of Troy, 7 ’—“xYgamem- 
non, the leader of all the Greeks,”—“Nestor, the wise old Greek chief¬ 
tain, 7 7 —“Pratroclus, the friend of Achilles, 77 —“Vulcan, the lame god of 
blacksmithing and metal working. 77 

A good general view of the story must first be taken by the teacher. The 
following versions are all simple and clear, and each contains in greater or 
less detail all of the incidents involved in the lesson unit outlines: 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 285-312. 

Hall: Homeric stories, pp. 11-116. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad. (Whole book.) 

Church: Stories of the Old World, pp. 69-181. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple, pp. 8-48. 

In Brooks 7 account the teacher will find some excellent models of vivid 
narration. But the complexity of detail woven into this version in places 
should not be admitted in telling the story to the class. Keep the narrative 
simple, with single plot and direct development of events. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

Lesson Unit One : IIow the Trouble Began. 

Special references: 

Hall: Homeric Stories, pp. 11-25. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad, pp. 13-27. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 285-287. 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece, Vol. Ill, pp. 97-121. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 74-78. 

Guerber: The Story of the Greeks, pp. 41-43. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 95-98. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 71-75. 

Baldwin: Hero Tales, pp. 30-61. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 305-312. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple, pp. 8-21. 

The telling of this story should begin with an account of the splendid 
wedding of Pelias and Thetis. A clear picture should be drawn of the 
feast, for then it may be made to stand as typical of the Greek banquet. 

The first dramatic situation is the appearance of the golden apple,— 
which arises naturally enough when it is made known that Discord was not 
invited to the festivities. Describe the confusion and make plain the 
embarrassment of Jupiter, thus called upon to decide between the three 
most powerful goddesses. 


&—Bul. io 


(SI) 


The second crisis is in the decision of Paris. In recounting this, two 
hints of future trouble may be thrown out: first, that the promise of A 7 enus 
did not guarantee that Paris would have no trouble in securing the fairest 
woman in Greece; and second, that Juno and Minerva were in a savage mood 
because of the decision, and would be glad to make the winning of his prize 
as hard as possible. 

The third dramatic episode is the abduction of Helen. This should be 
vividly worked out, else the cause of the war will seem inadequate and the 
later developments will lose in interest through the weakness of the first 
motive. (See above reference to Baldwin.) 

Chalk Sketch: 

Paris sailing away to Troy, with Helen. 

Lesson Unit Two: How the Greeks Prepared for War; and 

Lesson Unit Three : How the Greeks Came to Troy. 

Special references: 

Hall: Homeric Stories, pp. 26-31. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad, pp. 27-33. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 285-290. 

Hall: Four Old Greeks, pp. 20-27. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 78-82. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 44-47. 

Baldwin: Hero Tales, pp. 62-75. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 312-317. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple, pp. 22-32. 

These units may be given in one lesson in case the teacher is not able to 
find full accounts of their principal incidents. 

The first step in the lesson involves the following series of strong inci¬ 
dents: Menelaus’ return and his wrath on finding that his guest had stolen 
his wife; the standing agreement of Helen’s old suitors and their call to 
arms; why Ulysses did not wish to go, and how his help was secured; how 
Achilles was discovered and induced to help; the marshaling of the great 
host at Aulis. The hum and bustle and optimism of a great undertaking 
successfully begun should be reflected in the spirit of the telling of this 
part of our story. 

Here is the place to set forth the geography of the story. Use a black¬ 
board map showing Greece and the neighborhood of Troy lightly massed 
in some neutral shade. Mark the homes of Ulysses and other prominent 
heroes with a piece of colored chalk, and tell how the Greek leaders drew 
together at Aulis. As you talk, draw lines showing how it was done. Then 
show where Troy was and mark the place. 

Be sure that the class has a fairly correct notion of the times. They 
must be brought to see clearly the difference between that camp at Aulis 
and the camp at the Presidio. To do this it will be necessary to give clear- 
cut ideas of certain characteristic details of martial preparation in those 

( 82 ) 


times. The class should be acquainted with the armor, spears, swords, rude 
little ships, and scanty equipment. Pictures will be specially useful in 
explaining these, and the chalk should be used as often as the subject for a 
sketch or diagram arises. 

Here, as elsewhere, the teacher will find it more interesting and effective 
to present the necessary descriptive details by involving them in the narra¬ 
tion of action. Straight description is a bore in the hands of any one less 
than a genius. It will be wise, therefore, as well as easy and pleasant, 
to describe the equipment of the warriors by narrating something,—how 
* Achilles prepared his armor,—how he polished his shield, straightened his 
armor plates and put new straps on them, trimmed the horsehair plume of 
Iiis helmet, put a new handle in his spear, etc. Or to describe the ships by 
telling how the anxious king went down to examine their oars and rudders, 
and to see that each had its sail and mast tightly lashed under the rowers’ 
benches. If these units have been fully worked out, this point may well 
conclude the second lesson. 

While the ships were being loaded a strange sign was seen: Here tell the 
story of the serpent and the nine birds. Introduce Nestor, the wise old man 
who interpreted the sign. 

The next episode of interest is the calm and the discovery of its unfor¬ 
tunate cause. The expiation demanded of Agamemnon gives rise to one of 
the most dramatic situations in the whole story. Make clear the problem 
that faced him,—the welfare of his daughter or the welfare of his people. 
Make plain the futility of his excuse: that he had committed the offense 
without knowing what he did and with no intent to do wrong. The gods 
were not to be satisfied with idle excuses, and Agamemnon had to make the 
bitter choice. Let the class help him in his decision between love of his 
daughter and love for the Greek cause. It is the story of Abraham and 
Isaac in other form. 

The incident ends with the preparation for sacrifice and the dramatic 
rescue of the girl by Diana. The sympathy of the class should be aroused 
strongly on behalf of the unfortunate girl, an innocent sufferer involved 
in the punishment of her father, and then the rescue will afford an excellent 
^climax. 

Then tell how the curse was lifted and the impatient fleet set sail with 
a fair wind. Before sailing, however, some one had gone to the oracle to 
learn which side would win. The oracle answered, “The side which first 
loses a man will conquer.” Tell how Protesilaus worried over this decree 
as he sailed over the sea to Troy, for he feared that the Trojans might lose 
the first man and thus finally win the struggle. So while the others were 
thinking of the homes which they had left or of the hard fighting just ahead 
of them, Protesilaus sat planning to secure the victory for the Greeks by 
satisfying the condition set by the oracle. Describe the forces that swayed 
him in his decision, his love of life, his kingdom and family on the one 
hand, and, on the other, his love for the Greeks and his devotion to their 
cause. Present this situation so thoroughly that the class can live through 


(83) 


iri imagination the struggle that Protesilaus fought with himself as he sat 
determining whether or not he should throw away his life to save his country. 
Let the class decide what he should have done. Then tell of the landing on 
the beach, and the sacrifice of the hero. Describe how the Trojans were 
beaten back within the city of Troy, and how the hopeful Grecian army 
camped on the beach before the ships and on the plain around the city. 

A final touch should be added of the sorrows of Laodamia over the 
glorious death of Protesilaus. Don’t fail to introduce in this connection 
the interesting legend of the trees that grew from the tomb of his faithful 
spouse. 

(See Wordsworth’s “Laodamia”; in Syle: Milton to Tennyson.) 

Chalk Sketches: 

The serpent and the birds. 

The Greek fleet on its way. 

Lesson Unit Four : How the War was carried on. 

Special references: 

Hall: Homeric Stories, pp. 32-60. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad, pp. 34-100. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 290-297. 

Hall: Four Old Greeks, pp. 28-36. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 48-50. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 99-102. 

Hall: Four Old Greeks, pp. 20-71. 

Church: Stories of the Old World, pp. 69-92. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 79-85. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 317-320. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple, pp. 33-41. 

In this unit it will be well to begin with a brief mention of the nine-year 
resistance of Troy. Explain the strength of the city and the means by which 
it managed to hold out. 

Then describe in detail how the anger of Achilles induced him to forsake 
the Greek cause. Do not try to make his sulking fit heroic, for it can not 
be justified by the most liberal extension of modern standards. Present 
the injustice done him as strongly as possible, but make this injustice 
merely an explanation of, and not an excuse for, his sullen conduct. The 
story of this quarrel is well told by both Hall and Brooks. 

Next tell the story of the duel between Menelaus and Paris. In it is found 
a typical instance of the constant intermeddling of the gods. 

The exploits of Diomedes yield many interesting situations. Put emphasis 
on his encounter with Mars, who should be made as great a bully and brag¬ 
gart as possible. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Greek warrior in chariot. 


(84) 


Lesson Unit Five: Hector, the Trojan Hero. 

Special references: 

Hall: Homeric Stories, pp. 61-112. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad, pp. 101-356. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 297-302. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 99-102. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks , pp. 50-51. 

Hall: Four Old Greeks, pp. 37-70. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 321-329. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple, pp. 36-41. 

It will be worse than profitless for the teacher to attempt to crowd into 
this unit all the complex details of the war clustering around the great 
Trojan hero, Hector. Such situations as are clearly of prime value to us 
are included in the following suggestions. They should not be larded in 
and buried by a multitude of worthless incidents. 

By all standards, the most beautiful episode in the whole story is the 
parting of Hector and Andromache at the city gates. Lead up to it care¬ 
fully, and make it a picture to your class. Use all the direct discourse 
possible. Let the pupils place themselves in imagination in Hector’s place 
and live through the hard problem that he faced. Describe fully the advan¬ 
tages and disadvantages in each alternative before him, but let the words 
of Andromache and the hero present them. Do not tag the conclusion 
with a moral maxim of your own make; but be sure that the situation has 
been so presented that the moral of it can not be escaped. The ethical 
deduction will be safely drawn by the class if their admiration has been 
aroused for the lofty patriotism of Hector. 

Simplify the remainder of the story up to the point where Patroclus 
entered the fight by recounting in brief how, little by little, the Greeks were 
driven back as a punishment for the wrong done Achilles by Agamemnon; 
how Jupiter and Apollo helped Hector and the other Trojan heroes to drive 
the Greeks into their beached ships; how the ships themselves were being 
destroyed; and how Achilles refused to accept the friendly advances of 
Agamemnon and reenter the fight. 

Then develop the story of Patroclus. Describe his friendship for Achilles, 
his fears over the desperate plight of the Greeks; and how, finally, he pre¬ 
vailed upon Achilles to lend him that hero’s armor and troops in order to 
prevent the utter destruction of the Greeks. Make Patroclus’ exploits and 
death at Hector’s hands as dramatic as possible. 

Describe how the news of Patroclus’ death came to Achilles as he sat 
brooding in his tent. Make his change of heart something more than the 
desire for revenge; show it rather as a recall to duty through the example 
of his friend. 

The next episode of interest is the bringing of new armor to Achilles by 
Thetis. In this the class should be introduced to Vulcan in his wonderful 
workshop. 


(85) 


Then follows the fight between Hector and Achilles. Do not insert facts 
that tarnish Hector’s heroism. Make him a patriot ready to die, but never 
to yield while his home and city needed his help. 

The treatment of Hector’s body by Achilles, its preservation by Apollo, its 
ransom by the aged king, Priam, and the elaborate funeral rites held by 
the Greeks over Patroclus and the Trojans over Hector complete the subject 
matter of this unit. In this last incident the teacher has the chance to make 
clear the custom of funeral games and feasts by giving specific details of 
one such celebration typical of the rest. A full lesson may very profitably 
be spent in a description of the funeral and games as described in Brooks’ 
Story of the Iliad, Chapters XXII and XXIII. 

It will be well in closing to foreshadow the results that follow the loss of 
Hector to the Trojans. The bravest Trojan has been killed,—the one whose 
high loyalty to the city made him its strongest defense. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Achilles dragging Hector’s body before the walls of Troy. 

Lesson Unit Six : The Fall of Troy. 

Special references: 

Hall: Homeric Stories, pp. 113-116. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad, pp. 357-367. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 303-308. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 82-87. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 103-106. 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stories Retold, pp. 136-155. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 52-54. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 329-336. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple, pp. 42-48. 

Several of the foregoing references should be read as a proper basis for 
this unit. If one alone must be selected, Brooks is the best. 

In the first place here, it is necessary to tell of the death of Achilles. 
The story of the hero’s invulnerability except as to the great tendons over 
his heels is best told at this place. Call attention to the fact that those 
tendons are still called the Achilles tendons. 

Tell how the poisonous arrows of Hercules were secured, and how Paris 
died miserably through one of them sped, properly enough, by the hand of 
Menelaus. 

The story of the theft of the Palladium should be told because it brings 
Ulysses before the attention of the class and shows his chief characteristic,— 
craftiness. 

But still Troy held out. What was to be done? In answer to this 
desperate problem comes the best known incidents of the war,—the strata¬ 
gem of the wooden horse. Let the class tell which Greek would be most apt in 
planning such a ruse. Then tell how Ulysses worked out all the details of 
the scheme and how the plans were executed. 


(86) 



The dramatic points to be sketched in the closing chapter of the story are 
as follows: 

1. The “capture” of Sinon and his false story. 

2. The destruction of Laocoon and his sons. Be sure to have a good 
picture of the Laocoon group. 

3. The triumphal bringing of the horse into the city. 

4. The sack of Troy. This culmination of the undertaking should be 
painted in brilliant colors. Introduce it by a description of the sleeping, 
unguarded city, with its broken wall, relaxed after ten years of terror. Then 
tell how the Greeks crept from the horse, signaled to their comrades without, 
and began the destruction. Set forth enough specific detail to give a clear 
picture of the burning, looting and massacre involved in an ancient sacking. 
The death of the aged king is a fitting climax. 

After the class has had a long breath or two it will be well to tell what 
finally became of Helen, the cause of all the trouble. See Gayley’s Classic 
Myths, page 309, for a short sketch of the recovery of Helen by Menelaus. 

Throughout the telling of the story there should be frequent discussion 
of men, motives, and probable results. Good work-demands class activity. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The wooden horse before the walls of Troy. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad . 

Church: Stories of the Old World. 

Shaw: Stories of the ancient Greeks. 

Francillon: Gods and Heroes. 

Hall: Homeric Stories. 

Farmer: Boys’ Book of Famous Rulers. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Give a brief sketch of the story. This should include the cause of 
the war, the injustice done to and the wrath of Achilles, the death of Hector, 
the wooden horse stratagem, and the final sacking of the city. 

2. Who were the following: Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Minerva, Mars, Vulcan, 
Helen, Paris, Achilles, Ulysses, and Hector? 

3. How was a Greek soldier equipped for war ? 


<S7) 


THE WANDERINGS OE ULYSSES 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

It is necessary, in order that the story of Ulysses’ return may have begin¬ 
ning, end, definite progression and proper proportion, for the teacher to 
have a general understanding of the whole series of adventures, as well as 
a good idea of what each particular adventure is about and what part it 
bears in the final outcome of the plot. It will be well, therefore, to keep in 
mind the fact that the whole series of exploits is really the account of how 
Ulysses returned to his wife and throne after many obstacles had been sur¬ 
mounted. Each part will then be seen to have its proper place in the 
development of this theme, and each adventure will be seen as a step in the 
direction of the final conclusion,—the recovery of throne and wife. 

In order to get a good general view of the story the teacher should make 
preliminary preparation by reading the account given in Hall’s Homeric 
Stories, pages 119-198; Gayley’s Classic Myths, pages 313-337; Church’s 
Stories of the Old World, pages 182-246; or Brooks’ Story of the Odyssey. 

In presenting the story, each adventure should be told in such detail as 
to be perfectly clear and vivid. Avoid the multiplication of disembodied, 
half characterized names, places, and events. 

The following characters should be well known by the class at the conclu¬ 
sion of the story: The Lotus Eaters, Polyphemus, the Cyclops, JEolus, 
Circe, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, Calypso, Penelope, and Telemachus. 

At all times the teacher should be careful to develop a sound apprecia¬ 
tion on the part of the pupils for the dangers and limitations of seafaring 
in those early times. An abundance of vivid fact and episode may be found 
in the story as a basis for such appreciation. 

Lesson Units : 

1. The Departure from Troy; the Land of the Lotus Eaters; Among the 
Cyclops. 

2. The Bag of Winds; the Savage Lsestrygonians; Circe’s Palace. 

3. The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis; the Cattle of the Sun. 

4. Calypso’s Island; in the Land of the Phaeacians; the Return to Ithaca. 

5. How Ulysses Regained his Kingdom. 

Each adventure, while a part of the whole story, is an episode fairly 
complete in itself. Hence the teacher may freely re-group the above units 
into other divisions for presentation. The above arrangement has been 


(88) 



found to be practical for forty-minute periods. If re-grouping is done, care 
should be taken to combine the incidents in such a way as to put time and 
emphasis where they are merited. The adventures meriting the fullest 
emphasis are the following :■ Among the Cyclops; The Bag of Winds; Circe’s 
Palace; The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis; How Utysses Regained his 
Kingdom. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Clarke: Story of Ulysses. (Whole Book.) 

Lamb: The Adventures of Ulysses. 

Peabody: Old Greek Folk Stories, pp. 94-112. 

Shaw: Story of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 117-125. 

Church: Tales of the Old World, pp. 182-246. 

Lang, Leaf and Meyer: Prose Translation of the Odyssey. 

(Whole Book.) 

Pratt: Myths of Old Greece, Yol. Ill, pp. 125-165. 

Cole: Story of the Golden Apple, pp. 49-128. 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stories Retold, pp. 151-176. 

(Especially good account of the return.) 

Hall: Homeric Stories, pp. 119-198. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 337-359. 

Bulfinch: Age of Fable, pp. 294-318. 

Brooks: Story of the Odyssey. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 313-337. 

Separate treatment under this head need not be given for each unit. The 
story itself is merely an aggregate of well-marked episodes, any convenient 
number of which may constitute a lesson unit. It will be well, however, for 
the development and culmination of each adventure to be completed in the 
lesson in which it is begun. 

In this story much is to be gained in clearness and interest through the 
use of a good sketch map. Such a map should be drawn on the blackboard 
showing the Mediterranean Sea, Troy, Ithaca, and all places involved in the 
story. 

The shrewdness of Ulysses in surmounting so many dangers, and the 
■wonderful nature of the dangers thus encountered, afford the principal 
claims upon the interest of the children. Therefore, emphasize these 
aspects of the story. For example, the wonder element in the adventure 
at Circe’s palace and the shrewd way in which Ulysses rescued his men 
should be developed in full circumstance and detail. So also the unnatural 
powers of the Sirens and the craft by which Ulysses escaped them should be 
emphasized. The class will especially delight in the ingenious escape of the 
hero from the seemingly hopeless situation in Polyphemus’ cave. 

Care should be taken in every adventure to bring the narration to a crisis 
where the welfare of the wanderers is at stake. Their safe deliverance from 


(89) 


each peril should be developed only after a certain degree of suspense and 
fearful hope has been indulged in by the class. 

Many useful emotional reactions may be aroused by careful presentation. 
The resourcefulness of Ulysses, the disobedience of the men when they 
killed the cattle of the sun, their evil suspicions of their leader over the 
mysterious bag of winds, the hospitality of the Phasacians, the cruelty of 
Polyphemus, the loyalty of the swineherd, and the many minor incidents 
involving ethical decisions should all be presented so as to arouse, as each 
deserves, the admiration or the indignation of the class. The fidelity of 
Penelope is the most beautiful expression of a moral quality in the tale. 
Develop it with great care, so as to secure enthusiasm for her and her 
character. 

The visit to the Underworld by Ulysses should receive a mere mention. 
Later on in the story of JEneas will be found the best place for taking the 
class through the realms of Pluto. 

Chalk Sketches: 

The giant’s cave. 

Circe’s palace. 

Passing between Scylla and Charybdis. 

Ulysses on the raft. 

Shooting the arrow through the rings. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Clarke: Story of TJlysses. 

Church: Stories of the Old World. 

Brooks: The Story of the Odyssey. 

Hall: Homeric Stories, (esp. pp. 140-152). 

Swift: Gulliver’s Travels. 

Arabian Nights’ Entertainment. 

Adventures of Baron Munchausen. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Briefly sketch the most important of the adventures of Ulysses. 
fHere should be included the visit among the Lotus Eaters, the adventure 
with the Cyclops, the story of the bag of winds, the passing of the Sirens 
and Scylla and Charybdis, the story of the web of Penelope, and the final 
means whereby Ulysses regained his home.) 

2. What were the characteristics of a Cyclops? 

3. What were some of the dangers encountered by Ulysses on his home¬ 
ward voyage? 


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THE PERSIAN WAR: MARATHON AND THERMOPYLAE 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

The story of the Persian War ranks among our half-dozen greatest and 
best known war stories. It stands first among them all in heroic expressions 
of high ideals of motive and action. It is introduced here so that our classes 
may gain from it that knowledge and emotional culture which the world 
has drawn from it for the past twenty-five centuries. 

Moreover, it is a good medium for giving us what we need to share of 
the common conception of Greek life and spirit, an appreciation that is of 
constant service to all. ‘‘Bridging the Hellespont,’’ “Spartan courage,” 
“holding the pass,” “Olympic games,” “Thermopylce,” “Marathon,” 
these we have need to understand as they are currently understood; and to 
an appreciation of these, as well as to a better adjustment in our constant 
contact with Greek art, hero tale and allusion, this story will surely lead. 

The Persian War is not merely a fight between men to see which side 
could destroy the other, and which race or national name should prevail. 
It is a duel between East and West, Asia and Europe: a life or death 
struggle for the liberty and knowledge and art of Greece, a struggle for the 
germs of our own civilization. Older classes, in the high school and even 
in the eighth grade, can catch something of the meaning of this. But even 
if this wider importance of the fight is not caught by the class, a knowledge 
of it on the part of the teacher will increase her understanding of and 
enthusiasm for the story, and thus add to the force of the telling. 

A map should be used similar to the one used in presenting the Trojan 
War. Work out lilies of march, and put in places of interest in bright chalk 
as the story progresses. Detailed plans of certain situations will be sug¬ 
gested in the lesson units; 

The teacher should read a good account of the whole war before telling 
any part of it, and should first produce in herself that state of appreciation 
for special situations that she wishes to inspire in the class. The strength 
of the interest of the teacher will in great part be the measure of the interest 
of the class. 

Herodotus’ account is especially recommended for the splendid pictures 
that he draws, possessing almost the charm of the report of an eyewitness. 
The teacher who reads his account of the Persian host crossing the Helles¬ 
pont should have no trouble in presenting it as a wonderful spectacle to 
her class. Unfortunately, this account can not often be had, but much can 
be done with the other references suggested to attain the same fullness of 
preparation. 


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At all times the kernel of the story should be in mind: how patriots, 
careless of all else, stood through incredible dangers and losses for the 
defense of their home land. The great central spirit of it all, the master 
motive, is to be found in ideals of public service, duty to the home land 
calling for and freely receiving the sacrifices of patriots. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 100-138. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 52-65. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 128-146. 

Wallach: Historical and Biographical Narratives, pp. 56-63. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 127-177. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Vol. II, pp. 539-556. 

Creasy: Fifteen Decisive Battles, pp. 1-32. 

Lesson Unit One : The Greeks and the Persians. 

Here we are concerned with making a background and arranging the stage 
settings for a great drama, not an easy thing to do with words alone. If 
it is to be really done “when ’tis done,” then it is necessary that the life and 
the times,—the atmosphere and local color behind the story,—should be 
developed by a succession of anecdotes and sketches. The class should 
know something of the high civilization of Athens,—her pictures, statues, 
fine buildings, free government,—and of the pride that her people took in 
it all. But this will be a tiresome and profitless task if the teacher attempts 
to do it as it is done in most text-books, by general characterization and 
description unrelieved by incident, action, or dramatic interest. The best 
way,—perhaps the only way,—to get the class to realize the background of 
the events of the great war is to present that background through many 
short stories and by weaving it into events. The use of pictures, chalk 
sketches and diagrams will be useful in this, for everything depends on the 
final visualization of the scene by the class. 

Special references: 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 127-130; 138-160. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 92-94. 

Myers: History of Greece. 

Sparta, also, must be introduced and Spartan life made clear. These 
standards of courage and patriotism may be illustrated by interesting 
stories. 

Special references: 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 131-134. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 61-70. 

Myers: History of Greece. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. II, pp. 523-526. 


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The Greek games at Olympia should be explained. Tell in as vivid a way 
as possible how the athletes assembled, what events were contested, and what 
honors were accorded the victors. Build upon the pupil’s knowledge of 
current field sports. A sketch or diagram of the stadium will be helpful. 
But particularly useful will be stories of athletic prowess at such games. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 77-86. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 135-137. 

Wallacli: Historical and Biographical Narratives, pp. 46-48. 

Brooks: Story of the Iliad, Chaps. XXII and XXIII. 

Myers: History of Greece. 

Something should be said of the rise of Persia; how that empire grew 
toward the west until it began to press upon the Greek colonies in Asia 
Minor. Introduce here, somewhat out of its historical order, the story of 
Croesus, the rich king. This will introduce the class to a well known object 
of story and allusion, and at the same time illustrate the power of Persia. 

Special references: 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 182-186. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 104-105. 

Wallach: Biographical and Historical Narratives, pp. 53-55. 

Myers: History of Greece. 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stories, pp. 82-86. 

Chalk Sketches: 

The Acropolis at Athens. 

A chariot race. 

Should the teacher find herself with sufficient material to expand this 
introductory lesson, she may profitably devote two or three days to its pres¬ 
entation. The class should be led throughout to engage in comment and 
discussion. 

Lesson Unit Two : How the Trouble Began. 

The next step in the story is the Persian conquest of the Greek cities in 
Asia and their appeal to Greece for help. This leads directly to the sending 
of aid from Athens and the burning of Sardis. Then follows the wrath of 
Darius, for the first time opposed in his conquests, his re-conquest of the 
Greek colonies, and his vow of vengeance agains Athens. Don’t omit the 
incident of the slave whose duty it was to keep his vengeance warm. The 
episode of the first expedition, baffled by storms and wild tribes of Scythians, 
may well be omitted. If told, make it a bare mention of the main facts. 
Note again that the purpose of the story in this course is not to do justice 
to all facts that historians have dug up and assembled together, but to dis¬ 
tribute emphasis and to include and exclude material in such a way as to 
give the class those appreciations of the story that are of the most value. 

The incident of the ambassadors, sent by Darius to Sparta and Athens for 
earth and water, is full of interest and throws a strong side light on Greek 
spirit. When Darius heard of the treatment received by his messengers, it 

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is easy to imagine that his hatred of the Greeks was not cooled by the news. 
This story of the Persian embassy and its fate should be well told, for later 
we are to hear an interesting sequel to it. 

The unit ends properly enough with an account of the great plans of 
Darius for the conquest of Greece,—a state of affairs that will excite a lively 
interest in events yet to come. 

Special references: 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 104-110. 

Ridpath: History of the world, Vol. II, pp. 539-542. 

Myers: History of Greece . 

Creasy: Fifteen Decisive Battles, pp. 1-20. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The burning of Sardis. 

Lesson Unit Three: Marathon. 

The principal points of interest in this unit are as follows: 

1. The preparation by Darius of the conquest of Greece. 

2. Athens’ preparations for defense, and her vain appeal to Sparta. In 
this the famous one hundred and fifty mile run of the Athenian envoy is of 
special interest. Make the refusal of the Spartans to come an act of virtue 
in them, showing the stern way in which they were ruled by their ideas of 
duty even against their strongest feelings. The Spartans wished to come, 
but religious obligations which could not be denied prevented them. 

3. Preparations for the Battle of Marathon. Tell how the Persians 
ravaged the island of Euboea, and then landed on the Greek mainland and 
prepared to fight: how the Greek generals gave Miltiades command, and how 
Miltiades planned his daring line of action. Here the teacher should use a 
sketch map of the battlefield, referring it for general location to the large 
map used throughout the story. This will be found a distinct aid in making 
the events of the battle clear, graphic and hence interesting. 

4. The battle. Creasy’s account, if simplified, will make a good basis for 
this. Bring out the fact of the utter rout of the Persians. The map show¬ 
ing the swamp and the river and the sea will help to make the destruction 
clearer. 

5. The arrival of the Spartans. Just as the battle is over the Spartans 
arrive after a wonderful march. They started the minute that their 
religious duties would let them. 

6. How the good news was carried to Athens. This should be made a 
thrilling detail. Picture to the class the city trembling with doubt as to the 
outcome of the fight, its walls covered with old men and women and children. 
Then describe how the watchers saw a lone runner appear over the hills in 
the distance, making his way toward the city, how hopes and fears struggled 
for mastery until they could get the message; and finally of the climax when 
the runner cried, “Victory!” and fell dead. 

7. The return of the army to Athens and the abandonment of the invasion 
by the Persians. 


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8. The great mound and elaborate funeral games in honor of those Greeks 
who fell at Marathon. 

It is no part of this story to recount the later shame of Miltiades and his 
harsh treatment at the hands of the city he had done so much to save. 

Special references: 

Creasy: Fifteen Decisive Battles, “Marathon.” 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 161-164. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 112-115. 

Wallach: Biographical and Historical Narratives, pp. 56-58. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 128-131. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 53-66. 

•Chalk Sketches: 

Diagram of the battle. (See Creasy or any good ancient history.) 

The runner approaching Athens. 

Lesson Unit Four: How Xerxes brought his Host to Greece. 

Special references: 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 117-124. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 165-168. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 133-134. 

Much of the feeling aroused in the story of Thermopylae and Salamis will 
^depend upon a careful development of this unit. The most important 
elements in this development are the following: 

1. The preparations of Darius and Xerxes. Give the class a spectacular 
view of the way in which all Asia was levied on for the great host and its 
maintenance. 

2. The offer of the Spartan youth to sacrifice themselves to save their 
country. This is one of the finest touches in the whole story: the account of 
how two Spartan youths freely went as embassadors, and offered themselves 
to Xerxes as sacrifices in atonement for the error of their countrymen in 
mistreating the Persian embassadors sent, as will be remembered, by Darius. 
Here is a fine ideal of patriotism, and the incident that expresses it is well 
worth half a lesson unit if the teacher’s insight into its values makes it 
possible for her to give it so full a treatment. Think it over thoroughly, 
and determine how you can best get the class to work out the same problem 
that faced the Spartan patriots, and to the same conclusion. 

3. The crossing of the Hellespont. Many interesting details may be 
brought in here, such as the destruction of the first bridge and Xerxes’ dis¬ 
appointment and anger, the wonderful bridge road as finally completed, the 
ever changing procession of soldiers and arms, how Xerxes drove across, etc. 
Herodotus ’ account is rich in the details of this great scene. 

4. The census of the troops. Tell how they were measured, rather than 
counted. A diagram or sketch of the device used in taking the count will 
Lelp the telling. 


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It will be well before leaving the unit to bring it into touch with the 
situation in Greece. A single sentence at the end may suffice to do this. 
For example, the teacher might get the necessary touch of anticipation and 
add to the suspense by concluding the unit with, “And when the Greeks in 
their cities way down in Greece heard of all this,—heard that the great army 
from Asia was coming nearer and nearer every day,—how do you suppose 
they felt,—what chance do you suppose that they saw for their lives and 
their country?” 

Chalk Sketch: 

The bridge over the Hellespont. 

Lesson Unit Five : Thermopylae. 

Special references: 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 124-131. 

Wallach: Biographical and Historical Narratives, pp. 58-61. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 169-172. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 67-87. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. II, pp. 546-548. 

Baldwin: Fifty Famous Stories, pp. 110-112. 

Lang: The True Story Book, pp. 64-67. 

Describe the hurried plans for defense made by the Greeks, how r a fleet 
was assembled, and how Leonidas led his three hundred Spartans, with a 
few' allies, northward to meet the great host at Thermopylae. A clear picture 
of the situation at Thermopylae must be given. Pictures, if any are to be 
found, will aid greatly in this, and a detailed sketch map will be found 
indispensable. 

In presenting the story of the great fight in the pass make it a well 
rounded succession of events. Here is the best place for emotional results, 
but to attain them the story must be clear and its scenes must be vivid and 
real. The treachery of the false Greek is so black in contrast with the 
conduct of Leonidas and his Spartans, and comes at such a critical time 
in the strain of the hearer’s feelings, that it may easily be made to arouse 
intense indignation and contempt. 

Do not fail to point out that the Spartans had plenty of time to escape 
after they were betrayed. Their business in the pass was not to fight as 
long as there was a chance to win, but simply to stand up and fight for all 
they were worth. 

A fitting conclusion, and one well worth while because of its emotional 
call and knowdedge value, is the story of the monument raised to the memory 
of the Spartans, and its inscription. 

Chalk Sketches: 

Diagram of Battle of Thermopylae. (Showing secret mountain 
pass, position of Greek defenders and of Persian host.) 


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Lesson Unit Six : Salamis. 

Special references: 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 173-177. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 133-138. 

White: Plutarch for Boys and Girls, “Themistocles.” 

Wallach: Biographical and Historical Narratives, pp. 61-63. 

Myers: History of Greece. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Vol. II, pp. 548-552. 

Plutarch: Lives, ‘ 1 Themistocles. ’ ’ 

This unit has less value in the course than any of the other five. It is 
necessary, however, to finish the story, and also to acquaint the class with the 
meaning of the name, Salamis. 

Picture the Greeks as thrown into a helpless flight after the winning of 
Thermopylae by the Persians. The message of the oracle, with its many 
possible meanings, should be brought out. 

The remaining points of interest are: 

1. The repulse of the Persians in their advance on the Oracle at Delphi. 

2. The flight of the Athenians to their ships. 

3. The burning of Athens. 

4. Preparations for the sea fight. In this we have the bold advice of 
Themistocles to the Greeks, and the preparations of Xerxes to witness the 
great battle. 

5. The struggle. 

6. The triumph of the Greeks. As a conclusion to this should come the 
return of the disappointed Xerxes to Asia, a brief mention of the battle of 
Platea and the final driving out of all the Persians, and a word as to the 
restoration of Athens. Here is the best place to drive home the full meaning 
of the whole conflict. The restoration of the city of Athens may well stand 
for the preservation of the art and culture and spirit of ancient Greece, a 
prize worth preserving through such a struggle. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Xerxes viewing the battle of Salamis. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stories. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know. 

Lang: True Story Book. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who were the Athenians ? 

2. What fine things did the Athenians care a great deal about? 

3. What was the Acropolis? 

7—Bul. 10 


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4. Who were the Spartans ? 

5. What did the Spartans care most about? 

6. What did they think most important to teach their boys ? 

7. What were the Olympic Games? 

8. What were some of the sports at these games ? 

9. Who was Croesus ? 

10. Who were Darius and Xerxes? 

11. Which side won the battle of Marathon? 

12. How was the news of the victory brought to Athens ? 

13. How did Xerxes bring his great host from Asia into Europe? 

14. How was this great army counted? 

15. For what is Thermopylae famous ? 

16. What little band held the Persian army at Thermopylae for several 
days? 

17. How did the Persians finally get by? 

18. Did Leonidas lead his men away when he found out that the Persians 
were sure to win ? 

19. Why did the Spartans stay? 

20. What happened to them? 

21. What monument was later erected to them ? 


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DAMON AND PYTHIAS 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This little story, simple in plot and short enough for a single lesson unit, 
holds the first place in literature as an expression of ideal friendship. 
Damon and Pythias have become a proverb, and generous friends are often 
figuratively called after them. One of the prominent fraternal societies of 
our own day has even taken the name of Pythias and made it the key word 
in its title. As long as men honor the friendship that is true and spon¬ 
taneous and without selfish taint, and as long as the world has need of such 
a virtue, this story will be valuable because of the emotional attitudes that 
it inspires in those who hear it. 

It is not required here, or in other topics, that the popular literary version 
of events should be sacrificed for the critical accuracy of historical investiga¬ 
tion. This story will lose its usefulness and cease to be part of the common 
culture of men as soon as its shadows and high lights are toned down in 
answer to the demands of historical higher criticism. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 201-208. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 224-227. 

Baldwin: Fifty Famous Stories, pp. 100-102. 

Yonge: A Book of Golden Deeds, pp. 54-58. 

Dionysius is the villain of the tale, and should be properly branded as such 
in the beginning of the story. Make him not only a tyrant in the Greek 
sense of the word; that is, simply one who has usurped political authority, 
but paint him, also, as a tyrant in the modern sense,—one who is capriciously 
cruel and oppressive. To do this properly specific incidents should be 
brought out. Here, for example, should be recounted his treatment of the 
honest old philosopher who refused to praise his bad poetry. A description 
should be given in this connection of his dungeons hewn in the solid rock, 
and in which he kept the miserable objects of his ill will. 

The dramatic situations of the story of Damon and Pythias are as follows: 

1. The offer of Damon to stand surety with his life for his friend’s return. 
The scene in Dionysius’ court in which this takes place should be vividly 


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painted, for the offer made by Damon has far greater force when made in 
the presence of all the attributes of the tyrant’s cruelty. Let the class see 
the working of Damon’s mind as he volunteered to remain in the place of 
Pythias: how fear of accident to Pythias and resulting crucifixion for him¬ 
self weighed as nothing against his friend’s need. 

2. The delay. This may be worked into a climax of trembling suspense. 
Recount all the obstacles and accidents that befell Pythias on his journey. 
Make each of these incidents vivid and real with striking detail. At length, 
leave him struggling along the road to reach the distant city, with the 
sunset hour,—the time set for the execution of his friend,—almost at hand. 
Then return to Damon and Dionysius. What was Damon’s state of mind 
as the sunset approached? 

3. The return of Pythias. This is the dramatic moment of the story. 
The scene should be brought visibly before the children. The success of 
the whole story will be largely a result of the skill with which this is done. 

Then nothing remains but to tell how the stern tyrant melted at the sight 
of such a test of friendship; how he pardoned the men who had proved 
such true friends; and how he begged the heroes to make him a third partner 
in their affections. Nothing can show the beauty of the friendship between 
Damon and Pythias better than this picture of the proud ruler, with count¬ 
less subjects but never a friend, asking the heroes to share their friendship 
with him. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Damon on the scaffold; Pythias appearing in the distance. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Baldwin: American Book of Golden Deeds. 

Ruskin: King of the Golden River. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who were Damon and Pythias? 

2. Tell the main points of the story. 

3. If you heard two people referred to as like Damon and Pythias what 
would you know about them? 


U00) 


THE SWORD OP DAMOCLES 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This story should follow the story of Damon and Pythias, since it 
requires the same atmosphere of time, place and general circumstance, 
and since it centers about the tyrant Dionysius. Its place in the course 
is due to almost general knowledge of the story. Its motive is based 
on the age old common idea that power brings worry and risk. Every 
one knows the expression, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” and 
just as common is the idea of some dreadful consequence “hanging by a 
single thread.” And here we find the story embodiment of these ideas,— 
the story of power haunted by the fear, of impending disaster. Every one 
responds to and appreciates the situation that it presents; for it gives us one 
of our customary outlooks upon the responsibilities of power. Hence its 
place here. 

In telling it, two courses are open to the teacher. She may present the 
bare outline of the story in some such way as suggested by Baldwin or 
Guerber. If so, but little art is required in the telling, and the knowledge 
of the tale will be about the only result reached by the class. Or she may 
build up a story about the central situation, weaving in detail, presenting 
pictures, and rendering vivid and real its episodes. The suggestions that 
follow are advanced as aids in this second course. Their adoption will mean 
work, and ingenuity of treatment, and freedom in the use of the traditional 
facts, on the part of the teacher; but it will also mean dividends in interest 
and emotional culture on the part of the class. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 208-210. 

Baldwin: Fifty Famous Stories, pp. 96-99. 

The teacher should first show the fear of violence in which the unhappy 
tyrant lived. Illustrate with the details suggested by Guerber in the above 
reference: how Dionysius grew afraid to be shaved; how his room was 
searched before he would enter it; how he surrounded his bed with a moat; 
how his food and drink were always tasted by some servant before he would 
take them, etc. 

Contrast this fearful state of mind with his outward splendid show and 

( 101 ) 



authority: the fine chariot, splendid banquets, purple and gold, and great 
authority. 

All this leads easily enough to the next step in the story, where the foolish 
Damocles, a peaceful shoemaker, falls into heavy envy of the authority and 
tinsel of the tyrant. Picture him, like any gossiping village cobbler, railing 
to his customers about the inequalities of fate that made him hammer and 
stitch, while Dionysius took the air in an ivory chariot or feasted from 
golden plates. 

This envy of the cobbler should be brought out in many ways until it is 
apparent that the man has reduced himself to the very depths of misery by 
his broodings over his unequal fate. Picture him complaining at home, on 
the street corner, in the temple, everywhere, about the difference in his and 
Dionysius’ estate. 

Next tell how the envy of the cobbler came to the ears of Dionysius,—a 
courtier who had sandals repaired may serve as the connecting link,—and 
how the tyrant resolved to show the discontented tradesman what it really 
meant to rule a troublesome city. 

The cobbler, trembling with fear, feeling his head already loose on his 
shoulders, is haled with much circumstance before his ruler. There he is 
sharply questioned as to the source of his discontent, and is finally made to 
confess to the envy that makes him so miserable. After this he hardly dares 
to hope that the tyrant will spare his life. This scene should be clear cut 
and vivid, with plenty of detail and dialogue. Then picture the astonish¬ 
ment of Damocles when Dionysius heartily agrees with his ambitious ideas; 
and how the astonished tradesman suddenly finds his wildest dreams realized 
when the tyrant steps down from the throne, offers him the seat, gives him 
the crown and purple robes of office, and places the servants and the palace 
at his command. 

One detail after another should be introduced here to show the rising joy 
of the cobbler in his new authority. This leads to the climax of his satisfac¬ 
tion in the great feast at which he is to preside from the tyrant’s ivory 
couch. With each rich course and each cup of wine his happiness becomes 
more complete and his belief in the joys of authority stronger. Then, just 
at the height of it all, Dionysius bids him look up. Above him he sees the 
heavy sword, slowly turning in air, hung by a single thread. Bring out 
the details of the horror of the situation as sharply as possible: and show 
how glad he was to escape the life that had given him power at such a 
fearful risk. Let Dionysius, not yourself, drive home the moral in a well 
turned speech to the chastened cobbler. 

The last scene shows Damocles back at his work bench again, a wiser and 
more contented man. 

There are several places in the story where discussion over motives and 
ethical problems may well be aroused. For instance, the class may consider 
these: What real reasons had Damocles to be discontented? Is a golden 
platter any better than a crockery one ? What were some of the dangers and 
troubles hanging over the head of Dionysius ? Was it possible for Damocles 


( 102 ) 


to be happy, even though a poor man? Did hard work at the cobbler’s 
bench mean unhappiness for Damocles, after he saw things correctly ? Why 
not ? What modern ruler can you name who is not so happy as many of his 
poorest subjects? 

In all of this discussion, which should be woven into the telling, abstract 
ethical tenets and maxims should not be discussed. Keep the questions and 
remarks centering about concrete situations in the story, or concrete situa¬ 
tions analogous to those in the story. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The suspended sword. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Spyri: Moni, the Goat Boy. (Trans, by Kunz.) 

Burnett: Little Lord Fauntleroy. 

JSsop: Fables. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Sketch the story of Damocles. 

2. What did Damocles learn by his experience ? 

3. What is meant when it is said of any one, “The sword of Damocles 
hangs over his head”? 


(103) 


ALEXANDER THE GREAT 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This topic is not presented here for the purpose of teaching an aceurate 
and well proportioned account of the life of Alexander as judged by the 
standards of scientific history. It is rather to be told as a story rich in 
stirring episodes. The educational values found in it are, first, the develop¬ 
ment of a series of sound emotional attitudes; second, the attainment of those 
scraps of knowledge, sprinkled throughout the story, which have been gen¬ 
erally remembered by well educated people. 

It will be clear, therefore, that the teacher must beware of the danger of 
assuming the narrow viewpoint of the specialist in history. In this work 
we are not trying to give the pupils the mental attitudes of embryo special¬ 
ists, but rather to put them in the possession of the popular values of the 
story. It is of more value for the man or woman who is not a history 
specialist to know the story of how Alexander broke Bucephalus, than to 
understand the methods whereby he Hellenized Asia. 

A blackboard map should be used with the story, not for the purpose 
of learning a list of names of places and events so as to remember them, but 
simply to make the story clear and graphic. 

Throughout the story the teacher should bring out the heroic and admi¬ 
rable qualities of Alexander. Do not paint him as. an abnormal creature of 
ambitious conceit coupled with tyranny and vice. As a check to such a 
tendency keep in mind that Alexander through his own efforts worked a 
greater result in the world’s affairs than any other man who ever lived. 
Such works as he performed were not the products of a vice-sodden madman. 
He was great and useful, not because of weaknesses, but because of his 
great strength. Look for the courage, generosity, greatness of heart and 
genius in the man. Otherwise the moral tone of the story will be unsound 
and the literary, as well as the historical, truth will be distorted. 

The teacher should read, if the book is to be had, Wheeler’s Alexander the 
Great. It is full of anecdote, and is written with a keen appreciation of the 
spirit of the times. Besides, it is excellently illustrated. 

Other good general references are: 

Farmer: Boys’ Booh of Famous Eulers, pp. 71-109. 

White: Plutarch for Boys and Girls, pp. 420-446. 

Plutarch: Lives, (< Alexander.” 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Greece, pp. 210-226. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 217-255. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 212-215; 236-247. 

( 104 ) 



Preparation and Presentation. 

Lesson Unit One: Alexander’s Boyhood. 

Special references t 

Wheeler: Alexander, pp. 1-80. 

Plutarch: Lives. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks, p. 236. 

Guerber: Story of the Greeks, pp. 229-232. 

Preface the story with some account of the work of Philip in making him¬ 
self master of Greece. Bring out, especially, his perfection and successful 
use of the phalanx. If possible, use a picture or chalk sketch showing the 
Macedonian phalanx. The location of Macedonia and its more important 
characteristics should be made clear by weaving them into the events of the 
career of Philip and the boyhood of Alexander. Description should always 
be digested in the narrative, not presented by formal digression from the 
story. It is thus rendered interesting, as well as more vital to the movement 
of the plot. 

The main incident in Alexander’s boyhood is the taming of the wild colt 
Bucephalus. Many of the characteristics of the youth,—bravery, determina¬ 
tion, keen judgment, and self-confidence,—may be illustrated by it. Intro¬ 
duce other anecdotes. They all help to hold the interest of the class and to 
build up a conception of the young Alexander that will throw light upon 
his subsequent career. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Alexander taming Bucephalus. 

Lesson Unit Two: Early Exploits. 

(See reference books in lists, above.) 

The principal points of interest in this unit are as follows: 

1. Alexander and Diogenes. In this Diogenes is the central figure. Tell 
the tub story, his search for an honest man, and his meeting with Alexander. 
This part of the story should be brought in apropos of Alexander’s expedi¬ 
tion against the Greeks, who rebelled when Philip died and left the throne 
to his young son. 

2. The Gordian Knot. This incident should be prefaced by a brief 
account of Alexander’s first exploits in Asia. 

3. Alexander and his Physician. This detail is not well known, yet it is 
well worth presenting for the feelings that it arouses. Besides it shows the 
faith that Alexander had in all his men,—one of the qualities that made him 
so popular. 

4. The first encounter with Darius and the capture of the Persian Queen. 
Here w r e get another side-light on Alexander’s character. Bring out the 


(105) 


noble generosity with which he treated the family of his foe,—a degree of 
chivalry rare enough then and fit to serve as an ideal now. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Alexander cutting the Gordian Knot. 

(See illustrations in Guerber, p. 239.) 

Lesson Unit Three : Alexander, Conqueror of the World. 

(See above references.) 

The points of special interest here are: 

1. The trip to Egypt and the founding of Alexandria. 

2. The battle of Arbela. This should be made the crisis in the career of 
Alexander. A dramatic conclusion of the battle is found in the death of 
the Persian King, Darius. 

3. The invasion of India. The principal elements of interest here are the 
severe marches, the way in which Alexander shared the hardships of the 
common soldiers, the death of Bucephalus, the trip down the Indus River, 
and the remarkable return by sea and land. 

4. Alexander’s death. In this subdivision describe the splendor of Alex¬ 
ander’s court, and tell of the luxury in which he lived. There is no need 
here to indulge in a painfully detailed and overdrawn story of Alexander’s 
dissipations. There seems to be a morbid desire among historians, and story 
tellers as well, to take the lives of those who have lived most successfully and 
distort them into records of wickedness. As far as Alexander is concerned, 
let us be content to know that his character was undoubtedly very much 
cleaner and better than it has usually been drawn, and that the work in 
literature does not require the discussion of what evil there really may have 
been in it. The statement that he died from debauchery is false. It will 
be far nearer the actual truth to tell of him dying from the consequences 
of forced marches, Asiatic fever, and the exposure of hard campaigns, and 
at the same time it will add to the pathos of the story. Bring out the love 
and sorrow of his men shown during his sickness, and tell, in a word, how 
his vast kingdom soon fell to pieces after his death, for no one could be 
found wise enough or strong enough to hold it together. 

In case the teacher has Wheeler’s “Alexander” at her service, she may 
very profitably expand the story of Alexander into twice as many lessons as 
we have here outlined. If so, she should still make the points of interest 
emphasized in the foregoing the centers of emphasis in her expanded version. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Alexander’s army crossing the desert. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Sewell: Black Beauty. 

Pyle: Men of Iron. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 


(IOC) 


Cumulative Review. 

1. Who was Philip of Macedon? 

2. Over what country did Alexander first rule ? 

3. Where was Macedonia ? 

4. Tell the story of Alexander and Bucephalus. 

5. What great city did Alexander found ? 

6. What was the Gordian knot, and what did Alexander do with it? 

7. What lands did he conquer? 

8. How did Diogenes try to find an honest man ? 

9. Why did his soldiers care so much for Alexander? 


(107) 


THE ADVENTURES OE /ENEAS. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This story possesses a charm and a value probably not dreamed of by the 
average high school graduate whose only experience with it has been through 
the painful medium of the iEneid. But as we have already put considerable 
emphasis on the wanderings of Ulysses, a story roughly parallel to this one 
and containing situations better adapted to the appreciation of children, 
much of this story may be omitted. 

The work here shall consequently be limited in its objects. In the first 
place, the story will afford a review of many allusions well worth remember¬ 
ing. For example, it tells us again of the Harpies (first met with in the 
story of the Golden Fleece), the Lotus Eaters, the Sirens, Cyclops, the Bag 
of Winds and Scylla and Charybdis; second, it offers the best of opportuni¬ 
ties for a thorough exploration of Hades and all its commonly known char¬ 
acteristics ; third, the tale itself has occasional situations by which the class 
may be led to respond to helpful emotions; and finally, it gives a knowledge 
of the well known character, JEneas, and his place in Roman tradition. 

The teacher should first review to herself the whole story, in order that 
the relation of the various parts may be clearly seen by her. Each of the 
first four references below will be found sufficient for such a purpose. 
From such reading the teacher will see that the motive of the plot is the 
founding of the Roman race. This goal, toward which each incident in the 
story moves, should be kept constantly in mind in the preparation and pres¬ 
entation. Each adventure is one step toward the final outcome, and gets 
its meaning and much of its interest because of this relation. 

The class will be glad to have another sequel to the Trojan War. The 
fact that in the adventures of iEneas we have the tale of a Trojan refugee 
building the foundations of a new nation will give the tale a certain 
momentum of interest from the very start. The teacher should make the 
most of this claim on the appreciations of the children. 

In the following units whatever savors of conduct unbecoming a hero has 
been omitted. The teacher should remember here, as elsewhere, that one 
important purpose of this work is to yield ideals of courage, sacrifice, and 
nobility of character, and not merely to tell the story as some one said that 
some one said that it happened. 

See the method suggested under the Wanderings of Ulysses for details 


(108) 



as to the presentation of this story. Much of that method may well be used 
here. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Clarke: Story of AEneas. 

Church: Stories of the Old World, pp. 247-354. 

Gayley: Classic Myths, pp. 338-353. 

Guerber: Myths of Greece and Rome, pp. 360-377. 

Bulfinch: Age of Fable, pp. 319-355. 

Lesson Unit One : How JEneas set out on his Voyage. 

The story should begin with a description of the hero bringing his family 
from the burning city of Troy. Picture the desperate plight from which he 
escaped by bringing out all the horrors of the sacking of the city. Empha¬ 
size his care of his father, wife, and son. 

Then describe the gathering by night on the beach. Bring out the details 
of confusion, terror and suffering: how some were crazed with fear and loss; 
how families were separated in the darkness and were never united again; 
how rich goods were lying in unclaimed heaps; how many were hungry and 
cold; how the distant sights and sounds of the ruined city kept the crowd in 
a panic. In the midst of all this JEneas should be shown directing his 
followers, bringing order out of confusion, and making ready for departure. 
The more concrete the details of this scene, the more interesting and intelli¬ 
gible it will be. 

The first adventure in the trip at sea is the landing at Thrace and the 
evil sign met with there. This and all following progress should be worked 
out on the map, as in the story of Ulysses. 

Next comes the prophecy of the oracle at Delos. Here, again, the class 
is introduced to the nature of oracles, and again meets the prophecy with 
double meaning. 

The unfortunate attempt to settle at Crete may be briefly described. Its 
details most worth bringing out are the various difficulties met with in 
attempting a settlement, and the wonderful dream in which Jupiter warned 
JEneas to sail westward to Italy and there found the new race. Dreams, 
signs, and omens are such a considerable factor in all old legends that the 
appreciation of the ancient viewpoint on such matters should be developed 
whenever possible. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The flight from the burning city. 

Lesson Unit Two: Adventures by Sea and Land. 

Here first of all comes the adventure with the Harpies, and their dread 
prophecy. Later on it will be interesting to point out how the prophecies 
were one by one fulfilled. Make the most of the determination and courage 
of iEneas, alone undismayed by the dangers ahead. 

( 109 ) 


Next comes the landing at Epirus. Here the teacher has an excellent 
opportunity to describe oldtime hospitality, with its games, feastings, kindly 
advice, and parting gifts. 

The Cyclops will be welcomed by the class as old and well known trouble 
makers. Do not fail to tell about the Greek left behind by Ulysses, who 
begged Eneas to take him away, and who would have been rescued, of 
course, by the hero, were it not for the certain destruction that such an 
attempt would have brought his followers and his cause. The tying together 
of different stories and of different parts of the same story insure a firm 
hold on the interests of the class. 

Scylla and Charybdis come next for a bare mention. Then enters Juno 
with her revenge in the form of a terrible storm at sea. Bring up, or have 
the class recall, the cause of Juno’s hatred of the Trojans. 

The episode of the sojourn at Carthage should be briefly treated. Make it 
merely a stop for rest and supplies, and an occasion for the ordinary 
hospitality due to strangers in distress. 

Do not, at all events, load Eneas with the iniquity of a deserting lover. 
It will either result in destroying his reputation as a hero or in making his 
duplicity a virtue. In either case the loss will be greater than the gain. 

The death of Palinurus is the last detail of the voyage. Then comes the 
landing. Here we have the fulfillment of the final prophecy of the Har¬ 
pies,—Eneas and his men eating their “tables.” Their troubles are now 
mostly over, and the class can leave this unit with expectations of success 
for Eneas’ plans. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Eneas’ ship reaching the shores of Italy. 

Lesson Unit Three : The Descent into Hades, and the Founding of the 
Roman State. 

In this unit the class is to make a fairly minute tour of Hades, and the 
teacher should pick out and prepare for vivid presentation all the well 
known features of .Eneas ’ visit to that place. But first of all it must be 
told how Eneas found the Sybil, received a new store of prophecies, got 
advice on how to make the trip to the nether world, and finally set out 
through the fuming entrance at Avernus. 

The experiences of Eneas on this remarkable expedition should serve two 
objects: first, to confirm him as a hero, and to win admiration for the ways 
in which he showed his heroism; and second, to bring out the well known 
details of the region of the dead. This description should be woven into the 
story, for in this way it will be surrounded with the interest that the class 
has in the fortunes of the hero. The following incidents should be empha¬ 
sized : 

1. The meeting with Palinurus. In this the story interest is fully main¬ 
tained, and at the same time the class is given the ancient idea of the condi¬ 
tions on which a dead person might hope to reach the land of the spirits. 

( 110 ) 


2. Charon, the grim ferryman. 

3. Cerberus. 

4. The judgment of the dead. The account in Gayley’s Classic Myths, 
pages 347-348, is particularly suggestive. 

5. The heroes and their fate. 

6. Tartarus and its punishments. Several points are worth detailed treat¬ 
ment here: first, Sisyphus and his endless labor; second, Ixion and his 
wheel; third, Tantalus and his hunger and thirst. It will not be wise to 
introduce these hard names. Better simply refer to the victims as giants 
who had warred against the gods and had been punished for their wick¬ 
edness. 

. 7. The Elysian Fields. 

8. The Valley of Oblivion. 

9. After JEneas’ return to light and upper air, there is little more to 
tell. The teacher must not be tempted in this case to lead the class into 
the maze of legendary tribal and civil struggles that Virgil describes as 
following the landing of iEneas. Confusion and waning interest will mar 
the end of the story if this be done. Rather tell as briefly as possible how 
HCneas married the daughter of a native king and how he finally came to the 
throne himself. Then, after some hard fighting, he came to rule over a little 
nation that was one day to conquer the world. And thus began the Roman 
race. By leaving matters as suggested, the outcome is simple and clear, and 
at the same time no incident worth knowing is omitted. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Arabian Nights. 

Defoe: Robinson Crusoe. 

Swift: Gulliver’s Travels. 

Church: Stories of the Old World. 

Baldwin: Hero Tales. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who was iEneas? 

2. What did he set out to do? 

3. What strange adventures did he meet with on the way ? 

4. What strange underground journey did he make ? 

5. What was Cerberus? 

6. Who was Charon? 

7. What were some of the punishments inflicted on the wicked in Hades ? 

8. Who was Tantalus, and how was he punished? 

9. What were the Elysian Fields ? 

10. What was the Valley of Oblivion? 

11. What nation does the story say that iEneas founded? 


(Ill) 


HORATIUS AT THE BRIDGE, AND OTHER EAREY 
ROMAN LEGENDS. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

The following stories of early Rome are introduced because they have a 
firm place in the literary culture of the world. But even if we were to seek 
the byways of story for material for an elementary course in literature we 
could hardly find selections better adapted than these to develop literary 
appreciation. In the first place, they are rich in knowledge concerning a 
time and race about which the standards of ordinary intelligence require us 
to know something; second, they afford the stimulus for a number of desir¬ 
able emotional attitudes; third, their situations are simple and intensely 
dramatic, and so are especially adapted to the appreciations of children; 
fourth, one of them, Horatius, may be presented in ballad form, and with 
its lilt and cadence and sturdy pulse it will help to arouse the appreciations 
of the children for sample forms of poetry. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The following stories are to be taken up: 

1. Romulus and Remus. 

2. The Judgment of the Consul Brutus. 

3. How Horatius Saved Rome. 

The last will be based upon Macaulay’s Horatius. Material on the others 
may be found in the following references: 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 22-27; 58-81. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 9-60. 

Plutarch: Lives, ‘ 1 Romulus. ’ 9 

Yonge: A Book of Golden Deeds, pp. 21-30. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 23-36. 

Rowbotham: Stories of Plutarch, pp. 89-156. 

Lesson Unit One : The Story of Romulus and Remus. 

Place emphasis on the following: 

1. How Romulus and Remus were set adrift to die. 

2. How they were cared for by the she wolf. 

3. Their life as shepherds. 

4. The founding of Rome. 

Do not introduce the many names and the host of forgotten details 
included in Plutarch’s account. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Building the walls of Rome. 

( 112 ) 



Lesson Unit Two: The Judgment of the Consul Brutus. 

First, tell briefly of the Tarquin kings: how they ruled Rome as con¬ 
querors until the people arose and drove them out because of their tyranny. 

Next, sketch the story of the Consul Brutus: how he was the first magis¬ 
trate chosen by the people to rule and protect them after the Tarquins were 
driven out; how his two sons, dearly loved by their father, became traitors 
to their city and plotted to let the Tarquins and their forces in; how the 
plot was discovered and the two young traitors brought to trial; and how 
the stern old Roman father as judge set aside his love for his boys because 
of his love for the statev and condemned them to death. This in itself is a 
tale well worth the time of a full lesson, for it has taken a place in the 
staple culture of our time. But beyond that by far is its educational worth 
in bringing the class to feel the full force of Brutus’ high devotion to 
state. The decision that he made every one must make in some degree; 
and the standards of life to-day demand, as they did in the day of Brutus, 
that the common welfare shall be held more sacred than family and per¬ 
sonal interest. If the teacher can draw the old Roman holding court, 
seated in his high seat, surrounded with lictors and guards; if she can 
show what passed through his mind as his two boys were dragged before him, 
surrounded by witnesses who proved them to be the deadly enemies of the 
city and the welfare of all the citizens; how he thought, first of their child¬ 
hood and training and'of his plans for them, and then thought of the hard- 
won freedom of the city and the laws that were made to - preserve it;—if the 
teacher can make the scene real, even down to the flagstones, the axes of the 
lictors, the appeals for mercy from all sides, and finally the grim lines on 
the consul’s face as he thought of the fate of his state hanging in the bal¬ 
ance;—is this can be done, and done properly, the judgment may well be 
left to the class. Put the class in Brutus’ place, and let them return the 
verdict under the guidance of questions and illustration. This story will 
then have been no mere tale, but a personal experience with them, and they 
will have taken the emotional attitude that civilized society demands of 
them. 

The legends of Romulus and Remus, the Tarquins and their expulsion, 
and the judgment of Brutus,—lay the scene, give the cue, and strengthen 
the motives for the action that follows,—the story of Horcitius at the Bridge. 

In this lesson, events should be brought down to the opening action of the 
poem in which Porsena plans to restore the Tarquins to power. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The gates of the city; or, 

Brutus judging his sons. 

Lesson Unit Three : How Horatius Saved Rome. 

In this unit the story of how Horatius held the bridge is to be told without 
classroom use of the poem. 

The following situations should be emphasized: 

1. The plans of Porsena: Here should be drawn the anger of that prince 
8—Bui, 10 . (113) 


over the fate of the Tarquins, the summoning of his forces, and the favor¬ 
able predictions of his prophets. It will not do to tell this or any part of 
the story in a dull or slipshod way. Porsena should be set out as a brave 
prince, ruler of rich land, and friend of the Tarquins. This friendship 
and the danger he felt from his southern rival, Rome, are ample motives for 
his resolution. The gathering of the forces should not be blown over in a 
sentence, such as, “And so he ordered all his lords, and friends, and soldiers 
to meet together on a day. ” Such a statement means to the class a scant 
tithe of what is meant by a spirited description of how the messenger was 
summoned, given his orders (in direct discourse), and rode forth to watch- 
tower and stronghold, mountain village and valley farms,—and of how 
lords and soldiers, tradesmen and farmers, dropped their work, seized their 
arms, and hurried to the great camp outside of Clusium. 

Neither should the favorable prophecy of the prophets be dismissed 
with a mere feeble mention. Make it a picture: Porsena in his royal robes, 
attended by brave lords from all over the country, sits in the council hall to 
hear the word that means so much to him as it is pronounced by the thirty 
wise old men. Describe the ancient prophets as your mind sees them, per¬ 
haps in black robes, each carrying a sacred scroll covered with strange 
characters. While the details suggested here are probably of as little 
importance as any involved in the remaining situations of the story, they 
have been set forth to illustrate this point,—a flat, bald, diluted statement 
of a situation will never suffice. Each must be detailed and exploited in 
proportion to its significance in the story. Much must be left to the teacher 
in this, both because of the limitations of space and because no two imagina¬ 
tions construct scenes in just the same way. 

2. The fear of Rome and the flight of the country people into the city: 
Take the details as given in the poem and put especial spirit into the vivid 
scene of the refugees pouring in through the city gate. 

3. The terrifying advance of the Tuscan host: “The line of burning 
villages ’ ’;—‘ ‘ Every hour some horseman came with tidings of dismay ’ ’;— 
“Nor house nor fence nor dovecote”;—“ Astur hath stormed Janiculum”;— 
“The bridge must straight go down”;—each of these is the cue for a 
mental picture, and each should be explained to the extent of its meaning. 
Through the vivid presentation of crisp details, and with the help of other 
details suggested by the poem and by imagination, each pupil becomes in 
fancy an eyewitness of the terror of the Romans and the destruction wrought 
by the Tuscans. 

Here should be introduced a chart or map showing the city walls, the 
river, the bridge with a narrow pass at its farther end, Janiculum, the 
fortress outpost beyond the river, the coast line and Clusium. It should 
be drawn as the teacher talks, each place revealing itself on the map when 
referred to in the story, and hence when under the stress of immediate 
importance. 

4. How Horatius and his two companions stepped forth to hold the bridge: 
The teacher should be constantly on the watch to keep the class in the telling 


( 114 ) 


by suggestion and discussion, and here is an excellent occasion for vigorous 
class activity. 

First, when it is seen that the Tuscans will be over the bridge before it 
can be torn down, the question arises, “What was to be done? How could 
the city be saved?” Perhaps no one will see the correct answer; but each 
will have some plan or other, or at least something to say about the hope¬ 
lessness of all plans. 

Then, when Horatius offers to solve the desperate problem, we have the 
natural question, “Why did he wish to take such a risk?” “What would 
probably happen to him?” “What would be the loss if he were killed?” 
(His own life and the happiness of his wife and child.) “What could be 
gained by his actt” Don’t leave out the detail that he was the regular 
keeper of the gate, whose duty it was to guard it well. Here is one of the 
mere handful of great devotions to public duty that the race has produced 
and clung to in memory, and the value of the story will largely depend upon 
its dramatic presentation and upon the class making the choice, standing 
the test with Horatius. When he asks who will stand with him at the 
bridge’s head, let the class see the full meaning of his appeal,—death and 
service to the state on one hand, safety and selfish prudence on the other. 
And then let them say whether or not volunteers would be found for the 
work, and what sort of men such volunteers would be if, peradventure, 
some were to be found. 

5. How the dauntless three held back the host: The teacher should follow 
the stirring account in the poem in each of the several duels to be described. 

6. Horatius left alone : This situation is heightened by the explanation 
that the hero was not thinking of the pulling down of the bridge and of the 
ending of his own danger, but only of the duty that lay before him. Bring 
out without fail the vain desire of Herminius and Lartius to recross the river 
again to help him in his need. 

7. The safe return of Horatius and the joy of the people: What was 
he to do whqji left alone before the enemy? This is the question that 
brings to its climax the situation of Horatius alone, before the army of 
Porsena, with a raging river behind him. Let the class answer it. Why 
not surrender? Why not destroy himself? Why not stand and fight it 
out? His bold resolution to swim back to safety and the details of its 
execution may well be based on a liberal paraphrase of the poem. Of 
course he bore back his armor, for to a Roman no disgrace was keener than 
to lose sword and shield to the enemy. (Why?) Here Lars Porsena is seen 
as a thorough sportsman and a great-hearted enemy. Ask the class how 
Lars Porsena felt when he saw the bridge fall. Then develop, by questions, 
the generous admiration he felt for Horatius struggling with the flood 
for his life. 

The joy of the people and the rewards heaped upon Horatius conclude 
the story. Most of all bring out the fact that a fair name was not the 
least of the rewards: that his name stood as a motto and as a moral to his 
nation. 


(115) 


When through telling the story stir up class interest in the questions: 

1. How do you like the story? Why? 

2. What sort of people were the Romans? How do you know? 

3. What was the bravest act in the whole story? (It makes little difference 
whether the resolution of Horatius or some lesser deed is decided upon. 
The point desired is to strengthen the admiration of the class for sound 
conduct by getting an expression in its favor.) 

4. Why did Horatius take such a desperate chance? If the tale is well 
told there will be no need to do more than to throw out suggestions and 
hints in order to keep the class keenly alive through the telling and in 
the discussion of interest points afterwards. 

This telling of the story may take two lessons. At its conclusion the class 
will be ready to appreciate the poem, in which the action becomes thrice 
stirring. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Horatius at the bridge’s head. 

Lesson Unit Four : The story of Horatius as told by Macaulay. 

Macaulay’s Horatius may be found in the following collections: 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Syle: From Milton to Tennyson. 

Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know. 

Gayley and Young: Principles and Progress of English Poetry. 

There seems to be a common notion that children hate to hear a story 
twice, and that to tell a tale first and then give it to the youngsters in 
poetic form would be to kill all interest and to incite the class to rebellion. 
With some stories this is true; like shallow wells they are easily sucked 
dry. Such stories come and go.at each groan of the printing press, and no 
one is much the better or worse for them. But the stories that last and 
that hold fast root in the deepest emotions of the race, yief.d their charm 
not once but many times to us; and like good music grow better and richer 
with each repetition. Besides, it is more than possible that children who 
have been stuffed on the husks of literary forms and the analytical siftings 
of English critics; who know definitions for seven kinds of figures of 
speech; who can classify fourteen kinds of versification; who know the age 
at which Macaulay read Latin, and who have worn their books to limp 
tatterdom in the home-study hunt for allusions,—it is more than possible 
that such children will be glad to turn from this blood-drying work, even at 
the cost of hearing a good story twice. It is not only more than possible, 
it is a positive certainty. Not only will they be glad to hear it twice, but 
even twenty times at proper intervals, if it be a story of the first water. 
And such a one certainly is the story of Horatius. It is not a hothouse story, 
raised and sheltered from the world’s cold blasts; nor a school-made master¬ 
piece; neither has it been coddled, bolstered and scientifically reared into 
some sort of rare ripe popularity by analysts or critics or learned specialists. 


(116) 


It has lived because it has a good grip on the hearts of people,—common 
people who sleep well o’ nights without knowing much about the difference 
between end-stopped and carried-over verses, and who go softly through 
life without knowing the philologic pedigree of the words they say or read. 
Once the teacher has made the story clear, once its scenes have become real', 
its motives and acts vivid, there will be no murmur from the children when 
the presentation of the poem, which is simply the tale interpreted by a 
master and set to rhythm, is made to follow the telling of the story. 

It is easy to prove this in any classroom. But no such proof is required 
by any one who thinks about the proposition for the second time. Such 
a one will remember how much richer and fuller of meaning all first-class, 
able-to-survive, narrative poetry is when the plot of the story in its setting 
is first known. Robin Hood Ballads, Sheridan’s Ride, Columbus, The 
“Revenge” are of this type, and illustrations common to our experience 
might be multiplied almost indefinitely. Not only a second time but even 
a third and a fourth and a tenth time do we read them with unfolding 
understanding. It is this unfolding understanding in a thing so rich with 
meaning, or so charged with feeling as to hold reserves of pleasure for us, 
that gives the deepening interest and makes for the story a place among 
those that live. 

Another consideration, however, is quite sufficient to place the teacher 
who wishes results to first tell the story of Horatius as a story and then 
present it as a poem. All normal children have potentialities of poetic 
appreciation, but no child springs at once into a full-fledged exercise of it. 
Even the simplest poetry is full of odd words, curious twists and turns in 
sentence structure, unusual constructions, and the new and confusing 
emphasis of rhythm. Besides, in the finished product of poets we have a 
wealth of imagery, a looseness of construction, and a latitude of word appli¬ 
cations to which our tastes must gradually grow. It is well, therefore, to 
start the pupil in the development of his poetic appreciation with the 
momentum guaranteed him by an interest in and a knowledge of what the 
poem is about. 

This method of presenting poetry is discussed here at some length because 
we shall wish to refer to it hereafter in connection with suggestions concern¬ 
ing other poems. 

After the story has been told and class interest has been aroused, the 
poem should be presented. But this does not mean that it should be read 
through without a pause. On the other hand, the teacher should stop and 
interpret at almost every comma. If it is worth being read it is worth 
being understood, and it will not be understood without this interpretation. 
All in all, the interpretations will take far more time than the reading. 
This is especially true as so much of it will be in the form of leading ques¬ 
tions thrown out to the class. Keep the class alive with living questions. 
This is not only a test of their interest, but it is also a generator of it. When 
an interpretation or appreciative comment has been gained from the class 
by a series of wedge questions, it is often necessary to read again the part 


( 117 ) 


interpreted. So, also, it is frequently desirable after such an interruption 
to drop back to the last break in the poem to re-read all that intervenes. 
Thus the process of reading the poem is in reality a reading and re-reading, 
accompanying a constant running fire of parenthetical interpretations, 
explanations, illustrations, and comments drawn from the class. The read¬ 
ing should weave back and forth through and through it all, thus giving 
narrative unity to the story and poetic beauty to its expression. 

This particular poem is in parts simply swamped with references. Do 
not send the children to look up any of them. Such as the class can help 
clear up under the suggestion of shrewd questioning should be thus brought 
out, and the rest should be explained forthwith by the teacher. Many of 
them are of use only in giving cumulative strength to some general impres¬ 
sion. Those found in series in stanzas four to eight, and twenty-three, are 
of this sort and may be explained as a class. Thus, after reading stanza 
twenty-three, the teacher might say, “Who are all these people?” “Yes, 
they are friends of Lars Porsena;—and now you see they are ready to do 
what? Yes, to fight for him and to conquer Rome. See how many they 
were and how the Romans were able to recognize them. ’ y Then re-read the 
stanzas again so as to bring out their beauty. 

This reading and interpretation of the poem may require three lessons. 
When it has been completed, spend a lesson in reading the whole poem as a 
unit. Then let the class discuss which parts of it they like best and consider 
the most beautiful. When the pupils have pretty well agreed as to their 
choice, place the selections chosen upon the blackboard for them to copy and 
memorize. Care should be exercised, of course, to guide this selection so 
that it will be wisely made. 

Chalk Sketches: 

The fallen bridge. 

Horatius swimming through the Tiber. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know. 

Baldwin: An American Book of Golden Deeds. 

Seawell: Little Jarvis. 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Scollard: Ballads of American Bravery. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who were Romulus and Remus? 

2. What city is said to have been founded by them ? 

3. How did the Consul Brutus show his love for the state? 

4. Briefly tell the story of Horatius. 

5. Why do we admire Horatius? 

6. What poem has been written about this brave act of Horatius, and by 
whom was it written? 

7. Give from memory such selections from the poem as you like best. 

( 118 ) 


HANNIBAL, ROME’S GREATEST ENEMY 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

The story of Hannibal is another brave old tale that has taken solid root 
in our common lore. On the side of its historical importance, it has a 
significance which will always insure some mention of its principal points in 
any Roman history course, for it tells of the struggle for existence between 
Rome and Carthage, the outcome of which was one of the turning points 
in human affairs. Its general survival, however, seems rather to be on its 
merits as a story, by virtue of its appeal to the courage-loving, adventure¬ 
seeking, hero-worshiping instincts of our race. The strength of its claim 
upon our interest is well indicated by the fact that of the scanty handful 
of matters connected with the name of Rome, which most of us manage to 
keep alive in memory after leaving school, it stands among the brightest and 
clearest. To boys, especially, in whom the lusty, primitive instincts above 
mentioned are easily stirred,—for good or evil according to the nature of 
the situations which stir them,—the story has an especial charm. 

From its presentation in our course we shall strive to give our pupils,— 
first, a lasting knowledge of some half a dozen well known facts about Han¬ 
nibal; second, an appreciation of the courage and devotion to country 
shown by that leader; third, a contempt for bad faith and crafty dealing 
wherever they appear in the story; and fourth, a desire to read and enjoy 
other stories, whether historical or fictitious, which are built up around bold, 
decisive, virile leadership. It is an excellent type of a large class of stories 
of this sort, and to their appeal humanity has still good reason to respond. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Myers: History of Rome, pp. 57-91. 

Abbott: Life of Hannibal. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 114-140. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 106-122. 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 121-142. 

Creasy: Fifteen Decisive Battles, “Metaurus.” 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. Ill, pp. 148-190. 

First of all, the teacher should see the story in some sort of historical 
perspective. Rome and Carthage, facing each other across the Mediter¬ 
ranean Sea, were growing, conquering cities. As their power increased 

( 119 ) 



with their growing commerce and conquest, they finally met in conflict in 
Sicily, the middle ground. Later, in Spain, then the new western frontier, 
their interests clashed again. Finally both nations were shaken to their 
centers with a conflict for the supremacy over the Mediterranean. It was 
a struggle for existence upon the outcome of which hung the future of 
Europe and our parent civilization. Through this fearful struggle, epic 
in its scale and significance, the ruling figure is that of the great leader, 
Hannibal. A good short account of the historical relations summarized 
here will be found in the ^bove reference to Myers. 

Lesson Unit One: How Rome and Carthage Fell Out; Hannibal’s Oath; 
HannibaFs Plan to Conquer Rome. 

Special references: 

Myers: History of Rome, pp. 57-70. 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 121-128. 

Haaren arid Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 114-124. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 106-108. 

Abbott: Life of Hannibal. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. Ill, pp. 148-161. 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stories, pp. 205-208. 

Yonge: A Booh of Golden Deeds, pp. 66-71. 

First, explain briefly how the trouble began in Sicily: how both countries 
wanted to control that island and how the Romans met with their first suc¬ 
cesses. Introduce Hamilcar, father of Hannibal, and tell of his work for 
Carthage as leader of the forces in Sicily. A map of the Mediterranean 
lands, preferably in chalk on the blackboard, should be used throughout 
this and the later lessons. Important positions, marches, fights and plans 
should be located on it, or, better still, worked out in red chalk as the story 
progresses. 

The trouble in Sicily first taught Rome the need of fighting ships. Tell 
how the navy was built and of its exploits in the early years of the fight. 
(See, Myers: History of Rome, pp. 60-65; Guerber: Story of the Romans, 
pp. 121-124; Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. Ill, pp. 151-156.) 

Tell of the early failures and successes of this infant navy. The story of 
the sea fight in Ben Hur will be an excellent help to the teacher as an aid 
to a vivid, clear cut conception of the work of galleys in action. No 
names of sea fights or fighters need be mentioned. Show by sketch and 
diagram the grappling hooks, drawbridge, banks of oars, and bronze beaks 
of the fighting galleys. 

Relate the incident in which Regulus, a Roman general, captured by the 
Carthaginians and taken by them to Rome to sue for peace, urged the 
Romans to keep up the fight, even though he knew that this would mean his 
death at the hands of his captors. See, Yonge: A Book of Golden Deeds , 
pp. 66-71, for the best account of this.) 

At the end of this first act in the struggle, Rome had gained the island 


( 120 ) 


of Sicily, a large war claim paid by Carthage, and a place equal to that of 
her rival in sea fighting. If reference material is abundant and the fore¬ 
going. has been well filled out in the telling, the teacher may find it well to 
leave the remaining portion of the lesson to be presented by itself as a 
special unit. 

Carthage soon began to extend her power into Spain. Tell of Hamilcar’s 
conquests there; and of the vow of eternal hatred against Rome sworn by 
his son, Hannibal. Then explain how Hannibal came into command in 
Spain and of his successful campaign there. Tell of the attack upon 
Saguntum and its capture. The lesson concludes with an outline of Han¬ 
nibal’s amazing plan of an attack by land from Spain, through France, 
over the Alps and into Italy. Do not omit the dramatic incident where 
the Roman envoy declares war in the presence of the Carthaginian Senate. 
(See, Myers: History of Rome, p. 70; Guerber: Story of the Romans, 

p. 120.) 

Chalk Sketch: 

Hannibal taking the vow; or, 

A sea fight. 

Lesson Unit Two: The March into Italy; Hannibal’s Successes. 

Special references: 

Myers: History of Rome, pp. 71-73. 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 128-132. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 124-125. 

Abbott: Life of Hannibal. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. Ill, pp. 161-164. 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stories, pp. 208-211. 

This lesson includes the following important situations: 

1. Hannibal’s army crossing the Pyrenees. 

2. The passing of the Rhone. 

3. Crossing the Alps. This is the greatest spectacle of the whole story. 
The class should be brought to see the army struggling up the mountain 
passes with its equipment of baggage, horses and cumbrous elephants; how 
it was harassed by fierce mountain tribes, swept by avalanches and blinding 
snowstorms, and weakened daily by starvation and cold. (See, Myers: 
History of Rome, pp. 71-72; Abbott: Life of Hannibal. 

4. The descent into Italy, and the preparations for fighting. 

5. The three great battles in the north and Hannibal’s victory in each. 
(It will not be necessary to introduce their names or the names of the 
Roman generals.) 

At the conclusion of the lesson a survey of the gains made by Carthage 
and the losses sustained by Rome should be made; also, a forecast of the 
probable outcome of Hannibal’s brilliant campaign. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Plannibal Crossing the Alps. (Don’t leave out the elephants!) 

( 121 ) 


Lesson Unit Three: The Fabian Policy; Siege of Syracuse; Defeat of 
Hannibal’s Brother; Hannibal’s Retreat to Carthage. 

Special references: 

Creasy: Decisive Battles, “Metaurus.” 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 130-139. 

Myers: History of Rome, pp. 75-79. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 124-134. 

In this lesson the following situations deserve special emphasis: 

1. Fabius the Delayer and his tricks. Explain the origin and. meaning 
of the phrase “Fabian policy.” 

2. The Roman discontent with Fabius’ delays, and Hannibal s sweeping 
victory at Cannae. 

3. The capture of Syracuse and the stories about Archimedes. As you 
tell of Archimedes’ ingenuity, illustrate it with rough sketches of the lever, 
catapult, screw pump, and reflecting mirrors. 

4. The daring march of Hannibal’s brother, and his defeat. Show how 
critical this battle of Metaurus was and what its results meant to the Romans 
and to Hannibal. Do not omit the grim incident of the head sent to Han¬ 
nibal. 

5. Hannibal forced to leave Italy to save Carthage. 

Conclude the lesson with a statement of the successes of the Romans by 
which they forced the Carthaginians to accept the terms of a harsh treaty. 
The clearness of much of the narrative, simple as it is when stripped to its 
elementary actions, will depend largely upon the use made of the black¬ 
board map. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Hannibal receiving his brother’s head. 

Lesson Unit Four: Hannibal’s Exile; Roman Trickery and the Destruc¬ 
tion of Carthage. 

Special references: 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 139-142. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 135-140. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. Ill, pp. 185-190. 

Myers: History of Rome, pp. 88-91. 

This is a short but intensely interesting division of the story. First, tell 
of Hannibal’s exile and his unhappy end. Then describe the humiliation 
which Carthage suffered at Rome’s hands. Show how Rome was hunting 
for an excuse to utterly destroy her rival, and how that excuse was finally 
found. Trace the successive steps in the Roman treachery whereby Car¬ 
thage was rendered almost helpless before the real intent of Rome was 
revealed: first, the demand for hostages, then the demand for arms, and 
then the demand that the city be destroyed. Describe the desperate condi¬ 
tion in which the people of Carthage found themselves and their resolution 

( 122 ) 


to fight to the end. Tell in as full detail as possible of their hurried prep¬ 
arations for war and describe the wonderful courage with which they held 
out against the Roman host. Then describe the last scene of the story: the 
capture of the city by the Romans, its complete destruction, and the destruc¬ 
tion of the race whose home it had been. 

By way of review, discussion may be raised on the following points: 

1. What sort of a man was Hannibal? 

2. What was the most remarkable thing that he accomplished? 

3. What was the Fabian policy, and why was it so successful? 

4. What was the most serious blow that befell Hannibal’s plans? 

5. What do you think would have been the result if Hannibal’s brother 
had won the battle of Metaurus ? 

6. What do you think of the way in which the Romans gained their final 
advantages over the city of Carthage? 

7. What did the victory mean to Rome? 

8. Which side would you wish to have won ? 

9. What was the most heroic deed of the whole struggle? * 

Chalk Sketch: 

The siege of Carthage; or, 

The burning of Carthage. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome. 

Rowbotham: Stories from Plutarch. 

Henty: The Young Carthaginian. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who was Hannibal? 

2. What vow did Hannibal take against Rome ? 

3. What great march did he make into Italy? 

4. What high mountains did he cross with his army? 

5. What finally became of Carthage? 


( 123 ) 


THE STORY Of BRUTUS AND C/ESAR. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

For several reasons we would wish to see the story of Shakespeare’s 
“ Julius Cassar” in every grammar grade course of study in literature. 
First, it will give the pupils a knowledge of the story such as is demanded 
by the standards of general culture of our times; second, it will provide an 
emotional discipline of the truest and best sort; third, it is a step toward an 
acquaintance with and a love for Shakespeare’s works. 

The story of Brutus and Cassar has been selected instead of the Merchant 
of Venice because of the simplicity of its plot, its historical values, and the 
swift moving current of its story. It is also specially commendable for 
grammar grade use because it involves only a few essential characters. 

The teacher should tell the story. She will do it greater justice than the 
text of the great drama itself could render in a grammar school class. And 
as between the story told with feeling by an earnest story teller and some 
prose version read cold from a collection of Shakespeare’s tales there is no 
need to suggest the preference. It should be told with plenty of discussion 
thrown in to give the class participation in the solution of the problems of 
the actors. Pictures, a blackboard map, and a few suggestive sketches will 
be found necessary for the best results. After such a class treatment the 
teacher will find that she has given her story such an interest as to inspire 
a desire to know other stories from Shakespeare. She may then give the 
pupils a chance to read Lamb’s Tales, or, better still, Macleod’s Shakespeare 
Story Book. These, in turn, will help to form an appreciation which may 
wax strong enough in later years to demand and enjoy the great dramas 
themselves. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher should first read some clear sketch of the historical events of 
the period in which the action of the story is placed. The following are 
suitable for this purpose: 

Clarke: Story of Ceesar. 

Guerber: Story of the Romans , pp. 170-197. 

Farmer: Roys’ Book of Famous Rulers, pp. 110-141. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 181-218. 

Then the play should be read by the teacher. 

Before beginning to tell the story, the teacher should have a clear idea 
of the qualities of each of the important characters. Cassar stands 

( 124 ) 


as a 



great ruler of men,—brave, able, and just. In his hands is supreme power, 
and with that power he has brought order from chaos in Rome and made a 
strong government to take the place of the worn-out republic. We see 
him, too, as one ambitious for power, craving it by virtue of the instinct of 
leadership within him, and seeking to attain it by every effort. But we 
must not think of him as a tyrant struggling for glory at the expense of 
the state. Glory and power he demanded and got; but he used it for the 
best interests of his country. In his rise to supreme control, and the conse¬ 
quent destruction of the republic, he stands as a reformer and well-worker 
rather than as a traitor. The republic was long since one of the worst of 
governments: offices under it were bought and sold; graft had become 
systematized and recognized as a part of its machinery; luxury, vice, and 
all manner of crime marked the men who had risen as demagogues to 
control it; mobs, rioting, street fights, piracy, revolution, plot, proscription 
lists, the looting of provinces, thefts of public funds, and wholesale bribery 
were common incidents in the lives of political leaders. Into this state of 
affairs entered Caesar: ambitious to do and to rule; ambitious, too, to give 
a new and better order of government to his country; able, fearless, just, 
a great soldier, orator, writer, and statesman. 

Brutus was a patriot with the purest of ideals. But he was an idealist, 
born to live in an age that could not use his ideals. He, with a few others 
in Caesar’s time, loved and honored the old republic for all its ancient 
virtues. They saw it, in their simple devotion, as it once had been,—a 
strong government honestly carried on by honest free men for the general 
good. They should have lived two centuries before when the republic was 
worthy of their ideals. Brutus was blind to the corruption and decay that 
had marked its later years. To him a king or a ruler, by whatever, name, 
was a tyrant, a traitor to the nation, a dangerous man seeking to destroy 
the old order that he might yoke the people to base service under his will. 

Still, he was slow to join the conspiracy. He had no personal grudge 
against Caesar; on the contrary, he was one of Caesar’s dearest personal 
friends. He honored Caesar’s powers and respected all of his good works. 
His own life had been spared by Caesar when he had been caught in an 
earlier alliance against that leader. Only the deepest love for his country 
could have led him into the conspiracy. 

Most of the conspirators were very different men from Brutus. They 
had reasons for seeking Caesar’s death, which would have been scorned by 
Brutus had he not given them credit for having some share of his own 
patriotic ideals. Many of them were moved by personal jealousy or desire 
for office. Some of them longed for the good old times of license and 
political trickery which had marked the last stages of the dying republic. 
They sought the aid of Brutus because of his well known purity of character 
and deep love for his country. They saw that his leadership would give 
their acts a color of respectability. He did not join them hastily or without 
careful thought. It was only when he had come to feel that the people 


( 125 ) 


were calling for him to redeem his country from a tyrant that he offered 
himself as the leader of the conspirators. 

Marc Antony stands as an admirer of Caesar, and later, as true friend and 
helper of young Octavius. But besides this open role, he also plays the 
part of the schemer and trimmer. We are led to feel that his conduct is 
guided chiefly by his dominating interest in the welfare of Marc Antony. 

Portia, of whom we know too little, is one of the finest women in Shake¬ 
speare’s plays. Her fate, one of the incidents to the action of Brutus, 
deepens the tragedy by involving the destruction of one whose little share 
in the plot reveals nothing but purity and nobility of character. 

Let us look for the supreme tragedy elsewhere than in the death of 
Caesar. Caesar, though dead, still triumphs. Nor will we find the great 
crisis in the destruction of Brutus and the rest of the conspirators. The 
real tragedy is far more grim. It is to be found in the mind of Brutus as 
the end of his hopes is in sight. Then comes to him the sweeping conviction 
that all his bloody work has been not merely a failure, but a fearful mistake 
as well. Little by little he comes to see the full futility and error of his 
hopes. And the final conviction that settles down upon him is that he has 
given his peace and life, the life of his benefactor and friend, the life of his 
devoted wife, and has even risked the true welfare of his country in a 
hopeless and foolish cause,—a cause that would have brought nothing but 
mischief in its train, even had it been successful. Thus he dies not as a 
martyr, firm in faith for his cause, but rather as one who sees himself as a 
worker of harm, as one who has blindly and in folly done harm to the state 
which he would gladly have died to save. And this is the greatest tragedy 
of all. 

Lesson Unit One : Conditions in Rome; How Caesar Came into Power. 

Tell something of the confusion and corruption that marked the last years 
of the republic. Illustrate with the stories of Verres and his crimes, the 
rivalries of Marius and Sulla, the revolt of the gladiators, and the conspiracy 
of Cataline. 

Special references: 

Myers: History of Rome, pp. 93-119. 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 155-176. 

Farmer: Boys’ Book of Famous Rulers, pp. 110-118. 

Ilaaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 142-180. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. Ill, pp. 190-226. 

Then briefly sketch the early exploits of Caesar. Emphasize his friend¬ 
ship for the people; his conquests in Gaul and Britain; the love that his 
soldiers bore him; the decisive step in crossing the Rubicon, and his defeat 
of Pompey. Tell of the mercy and strength of his rule when he had won 
the supreme power. Show what this meant in terms of safety to life and 
property, and in good government throughout the country. Do not, how¬ 
ever, use a confusion of proper names in this account. One lesson can 


( 126 ) 


hardly contain and digest them all. Caesar, Pompey, and Marius may be 
referred to by name, and the others referred to by some descriptive epithet. 

Special references: 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of Rome, pp. 181-198. 

Guerber: Story of the Romans, pp. 176-184. 

Myers: History of Rome, pp. 119-128. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Vol. Ill, pp. 226-246. 

Clarke: The Story of Csesar , pp. 7-111. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Caesar landing in Britain; or, 

Caesar crossing the Rubicon. 

Lesson Unit Two: The Conspiracy. 

Here we take up the story as it is found in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.” 
This lesson is based upon Act I and Scene 1 of Act II. The class is now to 
learn how the conspiracy was formed and how Brutus was won to support it. 

Let us begin our telling with an account of the meeting of Brutus and 
Cassius, as described in Scene 2 of Act I. We will tell first how Cassius 
set Brutus to thinking about the way in which Caesar had seized control of 
the government. We will note the growing feeling of discontent shown 
by Brutus. One by one the other chief conspirators are introduced. We 
should not fail to tell of the tricks and flattery used to win the support of 
Brutus. Cassius, Casca, Brutus, Portia, and Caesar should be introduced in 
this lesson by name. Later on we shall need to add the names of Antony and 
Octavius. 

Portia’s anxiety over Brutus and his plans should be well detailed. She 
is worried lest he make some mistake that will bring suffering upon himself, 
and seeks his confidence in his plans in order to help him. 

Here, and throughout the story, we should use as much direct discourse 
as possible. It adds to the vividness and dramatic intensity of the dif¬ 
ferent scenes and we have the play to guide us in framing it. So, too, we 
must be careful to make clear each change of scene and to connect each 
act with the central thought: the development of the conspiracy. The 
stage setting and background of each important incident should be provided 
by means of descriptive details woven into the narrative. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Csesar refusing the crown. 

Lesson Unit Three: The Assassination of Csesar. 

The story content of this lesson is found in Scenes 2, 3, and 4 of Act II, 
and in Scene 1 of Act III. Here we will tell of the warnings given Csesar 
by dream, augury, and soothsayer, and of how he refused to listen to them 
all. Then we will briefly describe Portia’s increased anxiety over Brutus’ 
share in the plot to kill Csesar. Portia’s anxiety over what might be taking 
place at the Capitol will bring the class with brimming interest to the scene 
of the assassination. The events leading up to the act itself should be 

( 127 ) 


carefully presented. Caesar’s famous words, “Thou, too, Brutus!” must 
be given their place. Make their meaning clear. 

We should be careful to emphasize the way in which the conspirators 
thought of their bloody work, as shown by their words over Caesar’s body. 
At this point Marc Antony becomes an actor in the story and his crafty 
streak first shows itself. He feigns friendship for the conspirators to save 
himself and to gain time to oppose them. Marc' Antony was nothing of an 
idealist as the play shows him; he was rather a shrewd, practical politician, 
willing to do the needful thing, whatever it was, in order to gain his point. 

* But we must not fail to give him credit in the story as a faithful ally of 
Caesar and of Octavius. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The Assassination of Csesar. 

Lesson Unit Four: The Flight of the Conspirators and the Plans of 
Antony and Octavius. 

This part of our story is found in Scene 2 of Act III and in Scene 1 of 
Act TV. Here we should emphasize: 

1. Brutus’ speech and its effects. 

2. Antony’s speech and its results. 

3. The flight of the conspirators and their plans to raise a force in Greece 
and Asia. 

4. The plans of Antony and Octavius. 

Most of the lesson will be devoted to the famous speech of Antony. It 
will be well for the teacher to read this speech to the class, with sufficient 
interpretation interwoven to make each point in it clear to the pupils. 
Class comment should be aroused on interesting questions in connection 
with it, such as: “Was it fair for Antony to lead the conspirators to believe 
that they had nothing to fear from him?” “Did Antony really wish the 
people to believe that Brutus was an honorable man?” “Did Antony 
really wish the people to remain cool and peaceful, or did he wish to stir them 
up to violent opposition to the conspirators?” “Do you think that Csesar 
was ambitious?” “What parts of the talk were most forceful in winning 
the people to his side ? ’ ’ Other questions will be suggested by almost every 
sentence of the famous speech. Their introduction, followed by class dis¬ 
cussion, will insure a keen interest in each argument and situation. After 
this first reading and running interpretation, the whole oration should be 
read smoothly so as to bring out its effect as a whole. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Antony’s speech over Cesar’s body. 

Lesson Unit Five: The Destruction of the Conspirators. 

This lesson includes the story content of the play from Scene 2 of Act IV 
to the end. Through all its incidents must run the developing thought that 
Brutus is coming to see the error of his act and the futility of his ideals. 

( 128 ) 


First, we find Brutus and Cassius in control in Greece. The quarrel 
between them lets it fall out that Cassius has been using his power to wring 
a fortune from the people whom he governed. Here Brutus receives a hard 
blow. He sees that the best of his fellow conspirators makes Caesar’s death 
the means of enriching himself. Portia’s death brings out the best in 
Brutus’ character. We see him here as the stern old-fashioned Roman, 
bearing his own loss without a murmur and planning for the good of the 
cause which still has his faith. But in the loneliness of his own tent that 
night the feelings aroused by the loss of Portia must surely have been 
among the things that brought on his brooding doubts and fears. This 
blow brought home to him with fearful force the price that he had paid to 
aid the conspiracy. 

The visits of Cesar’s ghost and its warnings should be interpreted as 
phantoms wrought by Brutus’ dejected, melancholy mood. The warnings 
are but the reflection of his failing hopes. They shape the story toward its 
final crisis in which the conspirators and their cause are lost. 

The Battle of Philippi should be worked out as it might appear to one 
watching it from a hilltop near by. A plan of the battle as it is described 
in the play should be put on the board, and each important change in 
position and in fortune should be worked out on it as the story progresses. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Battle of Philippi; or, 

Brutus in his tent. 

At the conclusion of the story, lead the class to discuss the following: 

Which character in the story do you like best? Why? 

Which one had the saddest fate? Why? 

Did Brutus expect to gain anything for himself by killing Caesar? 

Should he have killed Caesar? 

Would the rule of a good king have been better than the government of a 
poor republic? 

What do you think of Cassius ? 

Why did Cassius wish to kill Caesar? 

What do you think of the judgment of the Roman mob ? 

Do mobs generally show much sense or judgment? 

What made Brutus’ death so bitter to him? 

Why did he and Cassius both prefer to die rather than to be captured? 

A good debate may be worked up on the topic: 

“Resolved, that Brutus, as a friend of Caesar, should not have 
joined the conspiracy.” 

Place on the blackboard Antony’s words over the body of Brutus. Let 
the class discuss them and draw out their full meaning. Then have them 


9 —Bul. 10 


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memorize them as something by which to remember the story and the char¬ 
acter of its greatest actor. 

“This was the noblest Roman of them all: 

All the conspirators, save only he, 

Did what they did in envy of great Caesar; 

He only, in a general honest thought 
And common good to all, made one of them. 

His life was gentle; and the elements 
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, ‘This was a man!’ ” 


For Pleasure Reading. 

Lamb : Tales from Shakespeare : Tragedies. 
MacLeod: The Shakespeare Story Book. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 


Cumulative Review. 

1. Why did many Romans hate Julius Caesar? 

2. Why was Brutus willing to lead the plot against his life? 

3. Who was Marc Antony? 

4. What famous speech did Marc Antony make and what effect did it 
have on the people of Rome? 

5. What was Brutus trying to do for the people of Rome? 

6. What great poet has written a play called “Julius Caesar?” 


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STORIES or ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

There is no need for an explanation of the presence of Arthur Stories in 
our course. For hundreds of years they have held an important place in 
the lore of the English speaking race. Through old story, and modern 
poetry and prose as well, they have become a part of the common culture of 
all who have enjoyed a decent acquaintance with English literature. They 
stand for us, to-day, just as they have stood for so many years, the great 
heroic epic of our mother race. 

They are a rich source of useful, general culture. The ideals of chivalry 
are perhaps best seen in their action. Knighthood and kingly splendor, 
and castles and tournaments and feudal confusion, are made real in them. 
Besides, the motives of men and women in the simpler relations of life and 
their varying ideals of conduct in their relations with one another and the 
world are shown to us for our judgment. From all this may be had whole¬ 
some emotional experiences based on the feelings aroused within us as we 
follow the actions of the characters. The ideals and attitudes of chivalry 
at its best may thus become ours. 

Here, then, are stories to charm the young people of to-day as they have 
charmed their fathers for generations; stories to instruct and widen the 
vision with which we look back upon the glories of the age of chivalry; 
stories to inspire us with motives and ideals as worthy of allegiance in this 
day as they were in the far off time of the good knights. There is nothing 
richer in the whole course in literature than these. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

It is not proposed that each child should be compelled to purchase an 
edition of the stories, but as many as possible of the following versions 
should be in the school library so that individuals may have the opportunity 
of following up the class work with pleasure reading along the same line. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights. 

Frost: The Knights of the Round Table. 

Pyle: Knights of King Arthur. 

Lanier: Boys’ King Arthur. 

Greene: King Arthur and His Court. 

Greene: King Arthur and his Knights. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know. 

Crommelin: Famous Legends. 

Mabie: Legends Every Child Should Know. 

Maitland: Heroes of Chivalry. 

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In case duplicates of any of the above are to be ordered for the school, 
Radford is specially recommended for duplication. 

Should the teacher be unable to secure any of the above books for her 
school library, or to get them from the public library for the use of her 
pupils, the pleasure reading must, of necessity, be directed into other chan¬ 
nels. But this, undesirable as it would be, need not impair the direct value 
of the class work. In the classroom the teacher is to be reader, interpreter, 
and story-teller, all in one, whether or not the children have access to books. 

At any rate, the teacher should provide herself with a copy of Radford’s 
King Arthur. The plan presented here is based upon the constant use 
of that book by the teacher. 

Begin preparation by reading “Suggestions to Teachers,’’ pp. 270-272, 
Radford. Then read all the stories as they are told by Radford. Read, also, 
such other versions in the above list as may be available. 

In any case, the teacher should read Tennyson’s Idyls of the King. 
There is nothing that will strengthen her appreciations of the Arthur 
legends so well as those poems. The teacher who makes them a part of 
her preparation, and who reads them with insight and feeling, will bring 
to her work an intensity of appreciation and a fineness of interpretation 
which will go far toward insuring the result. 

Besides the chalk work recommended under the lesson units which follow, 
the teacher should collect as part of her preparation for teaching the Arthur 
stories such pictures of knighthood, oldtime castles, tournaments, and single 
combats as may be of value in arousing visualizations on the part of the 
children. There are certain pictures, world known for their beauty, which 
illustrate specific characters and situations in these stories. Prints of them 
in various sizes and at nominal cost may be secured through any art store 
or school supply house. 

Examples: 

Pettie: The Vigil. 

Watts: Sir Galahad. 

Burne-Jones: The Dream of Sir Launcelot. 

Lesson Unit One : How Arthur Became King. 

This lesson is to be based upon the story as told in Radford, pages 11-28. 
Read, also, Tennyson: Coming of Arthur. In this lesson should be brought 
out the life that Arthur led in his youth, the training he received, and the 
series of events which led up to his selection as King of England. The 
detail should be brought out fully in tracing the events that led to his 
kingship. Each incident pointing toward the final outcome and each set¬ 
back in the fortunes of the prospective king adds interest to the climax. 

In this unit must be explained much of the general setting of the stories. 
Instead of making an elaborate preliminary explanation, the life and the 
times may best be made clear by running comment between points in the 
plot. Thus the typical castle of the day may be made clear by describing 

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Arthur’s home. The customs of knights and ladies of the day and their 
appearance and manners may be brought in while describing what Arthur 
saw or how he spent his time. The training of a knight and the obligations 
of knighthood should be made plain in presenting Arthur’s training and his 
ambitions. In story-telling, as in story-writing, the best backgrounds and 
scenic details are woven into the action of the story. Atmosphere, local 
color, general conditions of time and place are much more vivid and a 
hundred times more interesting when they are wrought into the fortunes of 
characters in whose affairs we have developed an interest than when they 
are lugged in for separate attention. Therefore, while the explanations of 
general setting of the story should be circumstantial to a degree, do not 
make it a piece of detached work. Weave it into the progress of the plot. 
The introduction to Maitland’s Heroes of Chivalry will help to freshen the 
teacher’s ideas of the times. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Arthur’s castle home. (Sketch it with towers, arched gateway, 
drawbridge, and moat.) 

Or, Arthur drawing the sword from the anvil. (See Radford, 
page 25, for suggestive illustration.) 

Lesson Unit Two: How Arthur got Excalibur. 

This lesson is based upon the story as found in Radford, pages 29-34. 
Introduce it by telling the class of the good deeds that marked the beginning 
of Arthur’s rule. How he defended the weak and cared for those who had 
been oppressed. Most of all he tried to make his country safe from wicked 
knights and plunderers. The story of Excalibur begins in the loss of 
Arthur’s own sword in a fight with one of these wandering, trouble-making 
knights. 

This lesson is lacking in action and narrative detail. It will be well, 
therefore, to read most of it from the text. Interpretation by the class in 
response to questions should continually punctuate the reading. Occasion 
should be taken by the teacher to bring out the full meaning by explana¬ 
tion and expansion wherever necessary. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Excalibur in colors. Sketch also a knight’s shield bearing an 
escutcheon. 

(See Radford, p. 34.) 

Lesson Unit Three: How Arthur Fought for His Throne. 

This story is found in Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pages 
35-48. 

It may be told in one lesson, but will be the better for two. In the first 
tell of the feast. Bring out the rule of honor which Arthur thought would 
hold as friends to him all who sat as guests at his feast. Describe the feast 
in detail. It adds the touch of reality to the story and gives a clear picture 

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of one of the old customs. Tell of the minstrels and their songs. Explain 
how minstrels took the place of books, theatres, and all forms of musical 
entertainment in those simple days. Describe their appearance and the 
wandering lives they led. Tell all you can about Merlin. He was a wise old 
man who had strange powers. The first lesson may well end at the critical 
moment when the forces of the eleven hostile kings and of Arthur and his 
allies are encamped facing each other ready for the fight. 

The second lesson contains the story of the fight. It is essential in telling 
the story of any battle to give the hearer a clear mental picture of the lay 
of the land. In this case supplement your verbal description with a 
diagram. Describe more fully than the book recounts it the action of 
knights in combat: the charge of companies of mailclad horsemen dashing 
at one another with their lances at rest; the single combat between leading 
knights from opposite sides; the play of the swords when at close quarters 
or when dismounted; the noise and dust and clamor in the height of battle. 
Describe again the equipment of the knight. His covering of chain mail or 
of iron plates; his heavy helmet with its narrow slits through which he 
looked; the emblazoned shield; the plumes floating in the wind; the long 
iron pointed lances; the armored and heavily caparisoned chargers. If 
the teacher needs information to help her bring out characteristic details of 
the scene, she may find it in Scott’s Ivanhoe in the chapters describing the 
tournament at Ashby, or in Creasy’s Battles, under the account of Hastings. 

The character of Arthur should develop with each story. In this tale 
we have proof of his courage. His wisdom, too, in seeking and following 
good advice is made clear. Besides, he shows himself generous to both 
his friends and his enemies. Above all, do not overlook the point that he 
was mindful of the sufferings of his soldiers. Their losses made him hate 
to fight save when wrongs were to be righted or evil of some sort suppressed. 

Chalk Sketches: 

Diagram of the battle showing Arthur’s plan of attack. 

Knight on horseback; or at least such details of equipment as 
lance, helmet, sword, and shield. 

Lesson Unit Four : The Order of the Round Table. 

The following references will be found of special value in preparing for 
this unit: 

Radford: King Arthur and his Knights, pp. 49-63. 

Maitland: Heroes of Chivalry, pp. 62-66. 

Describe and sketch the beautiful castle that Arthur had built for himself 
and his knights at Camelot. Tell of the arrangements of the great hall and 
the banquet room, kitchen, and guest chambers. Then give some idea of how 
the affairs of the court were ordered and of the various official services 
required of certain of the knights. Do not introduce here the names of the 
host of officials of the court. It will be better to bring them in- by name 

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when they appear as actors, as most of them do later on, in some of the 
stories. The life of the court at Camelot should be told in detail as it has 
been by Radford. The feasting, jousting, hawking, and athletic sports 
should be made real. But special emphasis should be placed upon the Order 
of the Round Table, those picked knights who sat with Arthur at a circular 
table, each of equal rank with all the rest. Bring out the character of the 
knights. Their loyalty to their king; their courage and skill in arms; their 
generosity to defeated enemies; their eagerness to defend the helpless 
and to right the wrongs of those who are oppressed; and, especially, their 
courtesy and gentle respect toward women. Show how the training of the 
knight gave him these qualities, and how the ceremony of knighthood 
pledged him to be true to them. 

The world is no longer full of dragons spouting fire, giants lording it in 
gloomy mountain passes, and fierce ruffians on horseback riding out to harm 
the weak. But it has its modern counterparts of all of these. And so it 
still has need of knights of the mettle of those who formed the Order of the 
Round Table. Place upon the board in some spot where it may be reserved 
while the remainder of these stories are being told, this boys ’ creed: 


THE BOY KNIGHT^ CREED. 

These are my duties as a true knight: 

To do my share of work honestly and cheerfidly and as well as I can. 

To he fair and square in all sports and games and in all my dealings. 

To he generous when I win and good natured when I lose. 

To he kind to the weak, to respect all women, and to honor my father 
and mother. 

And above all, in work or in play, in word and in act, to keep the truth 
on my side and to stand up with courage for what is decent and right. 

Have the class read it in chorus. Then arouse the interest of the boys in 
starting a new Order of the Round Table in which they are to be members. 
Point out the various features of the Creed for which the order is to stand. 
Then have the Creed repeated by the class from day to day until all know it 
by heart. If the teacher wishes she may carry this idea of organization very 
much farther. It may be brought to be a real factor in securing a respect 
for the school property, obedience to the rules, earnestness of effort, and 
gentlemanly behavior. Every teacher can use it at least to secure a more 
realistic conception on the part of the class of the order of good knights of 
Arthur’s court. And some may find it well to develop it to such other uses 
as her needs may require and her influence render possible. 

Chalk Sketches: 

Sketch or diagram of the round table. 

The ceremony of knighthood. 


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Lesson Unit Five: How Guinevere Became Queen; and the Coming of 
Gareth. 

Reference: 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 64-84. 

The story of how Guinevere became queen should be made more simple 
than it is in Radford’s account. Leave out most of the new and hard proper 
names. The individuals may be referred to without darkening the plot with 
the use of their names. Thus, Cameliard may be referred to as a neighbor¬ 
ing friendly kingdom. Ulfias, Brastius, and Bedivere may be spoken of as 
trusty knights of Arthur. Bleys, Bellicent, Yguerne, and Uther should also 
be introduced by descriptive comment rather than by name. Otherwise, the 
names of too many unimportant characters will cloud the story. 

Simplify the story, also, by shortening the steps by which Leodogram t 
became willing to give his daughter as wife to Arthur. The question of 
Arthur’s birth may be readily summarized and settled by reference to the 
story of his half-sister and the dream of Leodogram. This will improve the 
tale from the standpoint of the children’s interest. 

The coming of Gareth is included in this unit because, taken with the fore¬ 
going, it will just make a full lesson. There are two points to be made 
specially clear in the telling and interpretation of the story of Gareth’s com¬ 
ing to Arthur’s court. First, bring out the high spirit of young Gareth and 
of the earnestness with which he wished to become one of Arthur’s knights. 
Second, emphasize as part of the character sketching of Arthur, the scenes in 
which the king does justice to high and low who come before him as he sits 
in judgment in his great hall. The way in which Arthur answered the pleas 
of the widows and the petition of King Mark will go further than many 
general statements to bring out his kindness, justice, and courage. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Guinevere on her father’s battlements. (See Radford, page 65 
for suggestive sketch.) 

Arthur doing justice in his great hall; or, 

The city of Camelot as it appeared to Gareth upon his approach. 

Lesson Unit Six : Gareth and Lynette. 

See Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 85-98. 

This is one of the best tales of the series. It is the old, old story of 
deserving youth winning its way from obscurity and through peril to honor, 
love, and “happiness ever after.” Its plot is so dramatic and yet so simple 
in its unfolding that there can be no failure in presenting it. 

Lancelot should be given careful introduction. He was the bravest and 
most skillful fighter among all the knights of Arthur. We shall meet him 
often in other adventures, for to him were intrusted the most perilous 
exploits. 

Leave out all unnecessary proper names. 


( 136 ) 


The only portions of the story that require special care in order that they 
may be well brought out are those parts that show the changing attitude 
of Lynette toward Gareth. Her change by slow progress from open scorn 
and contempt to admiration and then to love brightens the triumphs of the 
hero. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Castle Perilous. (A diagram showing the encircling rivers will 
serve if the sketch seems too hard.) 

Lesson Unit Seven : The adventures of Ivaine. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 99-119. 

In the story there is action and hair breadths’scape sufficient to till two 
lesson periods if the teacher desires to expand and divide it. 

The following points should be developed in the telling: 

1. Ivaine was courteous and brave, but he was also boastful, proud and 
careless of his promises. His weaknesses are continually bringing upon 
him their proper punishment. 

2. The story of the lion’s friendship for Ivaine suggests the story of 
Androcles and the lion. Perhaps the class have already heard of Androcles, 
and if so, the children can review that story. If not, the teacher should 
briefly tell it. 

See, iEsop: Fables. 

Baldwin: Fifty Famous Stories. 

3. Explain what a portcullis was. The critical situation in the struggle 
with the Black Knight can not be understood by the children until they 
know the way in which the drop gate or porticullis of a mediaeval castle 
worked. 

4. The story is full of opportunities for discussion of questions of class 
interest. Some of these are: 

What sort of a knight was Sir Kay? (Recall his part in the story of 
Gareth and Lynette.) 

What do you like most about Sir Ivaine ? 

What do you dislike most about him? 

What was the bravest thing that he did ? 

What troubles came upon him because he broke Arthur’s command? 

Would any of Arthur’s knights have treated an enemy as the first com¬ 
pany of knights treated Sir Ivaine in his fight in the courtyard? Why not ? 

Chalk Sketches: 

The fight between the lion and the dragon; or, 

The combat with the Black Knight. 

Sketch showing the gateway to the Black Knight’s castle, with its 
arch, drawbridge, moat and portcullis. 


( 137 ) 


Lesson Unit Eight: The Story of Sir Balin. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 120-130. 

Bring out Arthur’s justice; Sir Balin’s desire to make a fair name for 
himself; the blindness with which he rushed into his tragic fate and the 
pathos of the death struggle between the two brothers. Explain how a 
knight’s armor and helmet might completely conceal his identity. No new 
names need be introduced save that of Sir Balin, himself. Let the class 
discuss the question as to whether or not he merited the misfortune that 
overcame him. In what ways was he a good knight, worthy of membership 
with Arthur’s knights ? 

Chalk Sketches: 

The warning cross by the road side. 

A knight’s helmet. 

Lesson Unit Nine : Geraint and Enid. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 131-141. 

In this story Sir Geraint brings out a number of the virtues of a good 
knight. He would not brook insult to Guinevere and her maid at the hands 
of the stranger knight’s dwarf. He was brave enough, when duty prompted, 
to follow the stranger into any danger that might present itself, although 
he had no armor with which to shield himself. He had the nobility to 
recognize the worth of the old earl who entertained him and the virtues 
of Enid, the earl’s daughter, even though they were in poverty. And he 
proved himself a generous victor after the Sparrowhawk’s defeat. From 
the whole story we have an excellent illustration of how the knights of the 
Round Table did good works for the honor of their order and the credit 
of their great king. 

Chalk Sketches: 

The half ruined castle of the old earl. 

The field of the tournament. 

Lesson Unit Ten : King Arthur and the Traitor Knight. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 142-152. 

Here we find the first sign of treachery among Arthur’s knights: Sir 
Accalon, unmindful of his vows and heedless of the loyalty which he owed 
to his king, attempts to destroy Arthur by treachery and to seize his throne. 
Morgan le Fay, a woman skilled in the black art and using it for base ends, 
is the source of the wicked plot. She stands as a foil to Merlin, the magician 
who used his power for the welfare of Arthur. 

Bring out clearly the following points: 

1. Neither Sir Accalon nor Morgan le Fay had any reason to oppose 
Arthur; and no reason would have justified their treachery. 

2. It was Arthur’s courage and clear judgment that opened the way for 
his final triumph when he accepted the chance to fight. 


( 138 ) 


3. With Excalibur and its scabbard Sir Accalon had victory in his hands; 
for Excalibur could pierce through any armor, and the scabbard gave to 
him who bore it renewed strength in the conflict. 

4. The Lady of the Lake had promised Arthur, when she gave him Excal¬ 
ibur, that she would help him at his greatest need. Her appearance at the 
critical moment in the fight secures him the victory. The fight should be 
recounted in all its details so that the class may follow the fortunes of the 
king point by point. 

5. Arthur did not feel half so sorry over the danger and injury which 
had befallen himself as he did over the loss of his knight, Sir Accalon. It 
hurt him most of all that one of his followers, whom he had loved, had 
turned against him. He would gladly have forgiven the traitor and brought 
him back to honor and a fair name among his fellows. 

The only new characters who need to be introduced by name are Sir 
Accalon and Morgan le Fay. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The interior of the dungeon in which Arthur was confined. 

Lesson Unit Eleven: Arthur’s Fight with the Giant. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 153-159. 

This story brings us again into contact with the giant,—that monster who 
plays such villainous roles in old legends. Place stress upon the acts of 
Arthur which show how ready he was for the most dangerous service for the 
people. He was a king who was quite as ready to take up a dangerous 
work as he was to ask others to perform it. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The entrance of the Giant’s cave. 

Lesson Unit Twelve: How Arthur Fought with Rome. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 160-170. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Arthur’s fight with the. Roman Emperor; or, 

The Roman camp. 

Lesson Unit Thirteen: The Fortunes of Sir Brune. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 171-192. 

The main centers of interest for the teacher to develop in this story are 
the following: 

1. The appearance of Brune at Arthur’s court and his strange vow. 

2. The adventure with the lion. (Two other heroes, with whom we are 
acquainted, slew lions with their bare hands—Samson and Hercules.) 

3. Sir Brune’s fight with the hundred knights, and his remarkable escape 
from them. 

4. The various encounters at Sir Brian’s castle. 


( 139 ) 


5. Sir Brian’s death at the hands of Sir Brune. 

In the telling the teacher should bring out the splendid qualities which 
mark Sir Lancelot’s part in it. They help to show us how it was that he 
stood first in honor and fair fame among all of Arthur’s knights. 

Sir Brune, Sir Brian and Elinor are the only new characters who need 
introduction by name. 

Chalk Sketch: 

A dragon; or, 

The fight between Sir Brian and Sir Brune on the parapet. 

Lesson Unit Fourteen : How Sir Lancelot Rescued the Captive Knights. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 199-212. 

Sir Lionel and Sir Modred are the only new characters who need to be 
introduced by name. Modred should be carefully pointed out. We shall 
hear of him later. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The tree bearing the brass basin and the shields of the captured 
knights. 

Lesson Unit Fifteen : How Sir Lancelot Rescued the Queen. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 213-225. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Cross-section sketch showing dungeon and trapdoor beneath the 
courtyard. 

Lesson Unit Sixteen : Lancelot and Elaine. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 226-242. 

The tragic love of Elaine for Lancelot should be made the central theme 
of the story. Bring out the various acts of Lancelot in such a way as to 
reveal his character. This story gives special opportunity for the use of 
direct discourse by the teacher in recounting the conversation of the 
characters. 

Chalk Sketches: 

Lancelot’s shield. (Use colored chalk.) 

The funeral barge of Elaine on its way to Camelot. 

Lesson Unit Seventeen: The Search for the Holy Grail. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 243-259. 

Begin the story by an explanation of what the grail was,—the cup from 
which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Explain, also, why every one 
wished to find it or even to see it. He who was so fortunate as to get a 
mere glimpse of it was happier and better for the vision; and besides the 
sight of it proved that its beholder was sinless. Bring out the fact that 


( 140 ) 


it was not physical strength or courage in the fight, or power or honor 
among men, that gave one the blessing of the vision of the grail. Service 
to mankind and unselfishness and purity were the qualities that made one 
fit to see it. Show how wise, and yet how kind, Arthur is in all his counsel 
to his knights. Indicate the coming end of his rule by pointing out how 
his old knights were dropping out, one by one. 

After the story has been told and read, present to the class Lowell’s poem, 
Sir Launfal. Read and interpret it so as to make its meaning clear: 
that the reward of right living is found in doing each day’s work as it should 
be done. This moral, of course, should not be so pushed to the front as to 
destroy the interest in the story. It should rather be made a natural con¬ 
clusion, aroused by the moving incidents of the legend and made vivid 
through the feelings which the fortunes of the characters arouse. 

Tennyson’s Sir Galahad may also be read to the class. (See Land of 
Song, Yol. Ill, p. 249; or, Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know, p. 253.) 

Chalk Sketch: 

The Holy Grail as seen by Sir Percival. (Use colored chalk.) 

Lesson Unit Eighteen : The Passing of Arthur. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights, pp. 260-268. 

Here the last threads of the series of legends are drawn together. The 
knights of the Round Table meet all their old enemies in a last fearful strug¬ 
gle, in which they destroy their evil opponents and are themselves destroyed. 
Arthur, attended at the last by Bedivere, “First made and latest left of all 
his knights,” yields his sword again to the mysterious Maiden of the Lake 
from whom he had received it. The three fair queens who promised the king 
that they would help him at his worst need, receive him upon their barge, 
and take him to a far land in the west where he may rest from all his heavy 
labors. His work is done, and ethers must now take up the struggle which 
he has carried on so fearlessly. For, as he says to Bedivere, 

“The old order changeth yielding place to new, 

And God fulfills himself in many ways, 

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.” 

After the story has been finished and the class have discussed it fully, 
some time may well be spent on Tennyson’s Passing of Arthur. In present¬ 
ing this, the teacher should interpret, as she reads, so that the outline of 
the story may be clear to the class. Most of the finer meanings of the author 
should not be exploited at this time. The children are not yet ready to appre¬ 
ciate them. But they will at least catch the solemn music of the verses, and 
because of it the pathos of the ending of all the splendid days at Camelot 
will make a deeper appeal. Besides, they will surely glimpse some sense of 
the meanings which lie just beyond their grasp,—meanings to tempt them, 
perhaps, in later years to a more mature companionship with the great epic. 

Along with an appreciation of the inherent beauty of the lives and deeds 


( 141 ) 


of the good knights will thus be spread some early appreciation of the 
magic charm wrought by the art of the poet. 

Chalk Sketches: 

Excalibur caught by the mystic hand. 

Sir Bedivere watching the fading barge. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights. 

Pyle: Knights of King Arthur. 

Green: King Arthur and His Court. 

Lanier: Boys’ King'Arthur. 

Maitland: Heroes of Chivalry. 

Mabie: Legends Every Child Should Know. 

Cervantes: Don Quixote. (Edited by Clifton Johnson.) 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. How did Arthur prove his right to be king? 

2. Over what land did he rule ? 

3. What sort of a king did he make? 

4. What was the Round Table of King Arthur ? 

5. What was expected of a knight? 

6. Who was Lancelot ? 

7. What was the Holy Grail ? 

8. Tell the story of the passing of Arthur? 

9. What poet has written the story of King Arthur? 

10. What are the Idyls of the King? 


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OLD “IRONSIDES” 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

A nation poor in traditions is pretty sure to be poor in national spirit. 
It is well, therefore, for young Americans to be given a sense of partnership 
in those traditions of the past which have won their way to a place in our 
national folk lore. 

Old Ironsides, whose real name was The Constitution, may safely be said 
to hold the central and highest place in American story of sea exploits. 
One of the strongest influences which have served to keep alive the glory 
of the old warship is Oliver Wendell Holmes’ little poem. The feeling 
which the poem arouses, respect and love for an object which has played its 
part in adding lustre to the nation’s past, is one to which every one responds. 
It will not be hard for us to awaken this response in the children of our 
classrooms. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The class should first be given a brief summary of the story of The Con¬ 
stitution up to the events that called forth the poem. The ship first won 
fame in its victories over the Moorish pirates of the Mediterranean. Then, 
during the war of 1812, it stood first among those sixteen ships of our country 
that fought with more than equal honors against a nation whose war vessels 
numbered more than twelve hundred. It will be well for the teacher to 
recount in some detail the most famous of its exploits: its victory over the 
Guerriere. Although The Constitution was a wooden vessel, its tough oaken 
timbers carried it through so many fights that it won the name “ Old Iron¬ 
sides 

At length, about eighty years ago, Old Ironsides had become unseaworthy. 
The navy department decided to break it up and sell its parts for what they 
would bring as ship junk. But the people of the country thought otherwise. 
They loved the old ship and raised a mighty protest against its destruction. 
The strongest protest of all was Holmes’ poem, “ Old Ironsides The 
upshot of it all was that the ship was preserved. For many years it did 
duty as a training ship. It is well over a hundred years old now; but it still 
rests at anchor in the United States Navy Yard at Boston. 

The poem should be presented to the class at its proper place in the story, 
before the pupils have learned what the popular clamor for the preservation 
of the ship accomplished. Let them decide what they would have wished the 
government to have done in the matter. 

( 143 ) 


Present the poem in the manner suggested for the preceding short poems. 
One lesson will prove sufficient for the topic. 

References: 

Guerber: Story of the Great Republic, pp. 75-80. 

Hart: Source Reader Number Three, pp. 238-241, 243-245, 246 
and 247. 

Brooks: The American Sailor, pp. 170-176. 

Barnes: Yankee Ships and Sailors, pp. 195-234. 

The poem may be found in the following: 

Gayley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People. 

Burt: Poems Every Child Shoidd Know. 

Shute: Land of Song, Yol. I. 

Scribner: Poems of American Patriotism. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The fight between the Constitution and the Guerriere. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Brady: American Fights and Fighters. 

Hale: Stories of the Sea. 

Roosevelt and Lodge: Hero Tales from American History. 

Tempt the class to read other patriotic ballads such as: The Constitution’s 
Last Fight; Farragut; The Old Man and Jim; The Blue and the Gray; The 
Men Behind the Guns. 

(See collections of popular poetry listed above for these and similar 
selections.) 


044 ) 


ALFRED, THE GOOD KING 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

Arthur was a legendary hero; Alfred the Great was a flesh and blood 
king. He lived in the stirring times when the Saxons fought for their lives 
against the fierce Danes. There are few characters in history who live 
more honored in popular memory than the stout Saxon, Alfred. Goodness, 
courage, wisdom,—the qualities of an ideal king,—mark our conception of 
him. The story of the prize book, of the burning cakes, and of the minstrel 
disguise in which Alfred visited the Danish camp are common property. 
So, too, some idea of those early sea-dogs, the hardy Danes and Norse who 
ravaged the English shores, is a part of our race culture. 

We need not be disturbed because prying historians have stripped the 
glamour from the career of the hero. In the literature class, the anecdote 
of the burning cakes and other tales of the sort are told as good old stories 
worth telling for their own sakes. They are not told as being either true or 
false, but simply as stories of Alfred. Like the Tell legend, they are, of a 
certainty, true to the spirit of the times and to the character of the man. 
They picture to us vividly and in sharp detail a man whom we are glad 
to know and whose life has proved an ideal to his people for a thousand 
years. 

Let us not object to our old English heroes, Arthur, Alfred, Richard, 
Robin Hood, and the rest because they are not Americans. Surely we are of 
their blood and spirit in no less degree than we are inheritors of Washington 
and Lincoln. Any people that scorns the good contacts of the whole wide 
world of stimulating ideals is losing a portion of its common heritage. 

Here, then, we have a chance to bring our boys and girls to know a strong, 
wise, faithful man, a king who worked for his people that their homes might 
be safer and their lives brighter. The life of Alfred should stand before us 
-as an expression of the ideal of kingly service. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher should know something about the times in which Alfred lived 
before she tries to tell the story of his life. At the time Alfred came to 
the throne, England was divided into a number of little kingdoms. Each 
of these had its own ruler who had little power of government, even in his 
own land. There were few roads, few cities, and no fine buildings. Most 
of the people were very poor. Their food was coarse, their houses cold and 


10—Bul. 10 


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roughly made of stone or heavy timbers, and most of them had a hard enough 
time to keep alive. No one was safe on the roads even in the daytime. 
Murder, arson, robbery were common. The king’s government went little 
farther than his control or leadership over his rough followers in battle. 
Farming and fishing were the principal occupations of the people. Nearly 
everything needful, whether of food, clothing, furniture, or arms was made 
at home. Not one king in ten could read a line or even write his own name. 

Into such a land swarmed the Danes. Plunder and the fight were their 
special joy. With their long black ships, some times rowed by thirty war¬ 
riors, and often sailing in squadrons of scores or even hundreds, they found 
the coast towns, attacked, burned, and looted them, killed the men, carried 
off the women and then dashed away. Sometimes they demanded and 
received tribute, in return for promises of protection. They always kept the 
tribute, but never the promises. 

This brief sketch must be expanded and illustrated by the teacher. 

As general preliminary preparation the teacher should read at least one 
good account of Alfred’s life and times. 

General references: 

Tappan: In the Days of Alfred the Great. 

Bosworth: Alfred the Great: His Life and Times. 

Besant: The Story of King Alfred. 

Tappan’s book will prove of the first value to both teacher and class. 

The following outline of lessons may be expanded if the teacher finds her 
story rich enough to warrant it. 

Lesson Unit One: In Alfred’s Day. 

Describe the life of the Saxons, their homes, occupations, hardships, 
customs, and the conditions of government in their many little kingdoms. 
Describe the appearance and ways of the Danes. Illustrate their cruelty by 
means of brief stories. 

The content for this lesson may be secured from any one of the three 
references above. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Danish ships on the shore. 

Lesson Unit Two : Alfred’s Boyhood. 

Special references: 

Tappan: In the Days of Alfred the Great, pp. 1-90. 

Besant : The Story of King Alfred, pp. 22-72. 

BosAorth: Alfred the Great, pp. 1-23. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Boy Should Know, pp. 127-131. 

Guerber: The Story of the English, pp. 42-47. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 26-29. 

Farmer: Boys’ Book of Famous Rulers, pp. 169-179. 

( 146 ) 


Tell the story of Alfred’s life up to the time when he took the throne. 
Bring out his trip to Rome, his prize book, and the love his people felt for 
him. Emphasize the ignorance, suffering, disorder, and Danish violence 
that formed part of the problems that surrounded the young king. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Alfred and the book. 

Lesson Unit Three: How Alfred Fought with the Danes. 

Special references: 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 135- 
142. 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 183-192. 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, Chap. III. 

Blaisdell: Stories from English History, pp. 31-37. 

(See, also, books listed under Lesson Unit Two.) 

Describe Alfred’s early fights. Tell of the varying fortunes that fol¬ 
lowed his army; of the truces, ransoms, hostages and broken oaths that 
marked the struggle. Dark days came when the king was forced to hide 
in the fens and forests. Tell the story of the burning cakes. Tell, also, how 
Alfred, disguised as a minstrel, visited the Danish camp. Then briefly 
describe the series of struggles in which he drove back the Danes and forced 
them to preserve the peace. Tell what he did for his people through his wise 
laws and honest judges: How he encouraged study; how he started the 
famous Old English Chronicle as a record of the events of his whole king¬ 
dom. Wind up the story with a general contrast between life in Alfred’s 
kingdom at the beginning and at the end of his reign. In what ways had 
his wise, brave rule been of lasting service to his people ? Why are we proud 
of Alfred? 

Chalk Sketch: 

Alfred and the burning cakes; or, 

Alfred and the Danes in battle. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Tappan: Jn the Days of Alfred the Great. 

Warren: Stories from English History. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages. 

(See above lists, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. In what land did Alfred rule? 

2. Tell the story of Alfred and the prize book. 

3. Tell the story of Alfred and the burning cakes. 

4. How did Alfred protect his people from the Danes? 


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HAROLD, LAST OF THE SAXONS, AND WILLIAM 
THE CONQUEROR. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

In the Norman Conquest of England we find another old history story 
that has proved its strength of appeal by persistent survival. What share 
of its popularly known anecdotes and incidents may be legendary no one is 
quite sure; but we shall not seek to mark them or make apology for their 
appearance. 

In its main events it is historically true by all the standards of criticism. 
Most of its minor details, too, are accepted as true by critical historical 
students. At any rate, it is one of the great stories of our race. 

We shall not attempt an elaborate historical setting for the Conquest. 
Enough to give it a time some two hundred and fifty years after Alfred, and 
to trace the main events leading up to it. Neither shall we seek to secure 
from it much in the way of moral reflections. It is the story of two brave 
men, each firmly convinced that he alone was right, striving for a kingdom. 
Admiration for wise leadership and unflinching courage in the fight, 
credit for personal bravery and dogged grit,—these primitive old emotions, 
still fundamentally of use when wisely stimulated and directed, here find 
two heroes each fit to arouse them. Our feelings probably will be more 
strongly moved by the bravery and ill fate of Harold. Moreover, we must 
accord to him some special admiration as one who fought for his native land. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher should read some short account of English history from the 
time of Alfred through the events of the Conquest. This general review of 
the times will give an intelligent grasp of the major conditions under which 
the action of our story is worked out. The following will be found useful 
for such general reference use: 

Tappan: In the Days of William the Conqueror. 

Dickens: Child’s History, pp. 18-39. 

Blaisdell: Short Stories from English History, pp. 38-52. 

Thatcher: Short History of Medieval Europe, pp. 95-109. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 37-57. 

Guerber: The Story of the English, pp. 53-79. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 93-132. 

(148) 


Tappan and Dickens will prove an adequate source of content for all the 
lesson units. 

From the above references, or even from a small part of them, the teacher 
will learn enough about the events leading up to the Conquest. She will 
hear of the weak Saxon and stronger Danish kings who followed Alfred in 
England; she will be told again of the Norse conquests in Brittany and 
Normandy and of the growth of their power on French soil; she will have 
learned the good reasons that William, Duke of Normandy, had to believe 
that he was to be the king of England at the death of Edward the Confessor. 
Much, too, will have been learned that is needed to give the principal situa¬ 
tions of the story their correct narrative relations. 

Lesson Unit One: How the Trouble Began. 

Here should be made clear to the class a few of the more important events 
leading up to the crowning of Harold. Tell how the Danes finally won the 
kingship of England. The name of Canute should be mentioned, and the 
well known story of Canute and the tide should be told. 

Special references: 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, pp. 27-29. 

Warran: Stories f rom English History, pp. 44-46. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 96-108. 

Guerber: The Story of the English, pp. 63-67. 

Blaisdell: Short Stories from English History, pp. 43-46. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 149- 
157. 

Baldwin: Fifty Famous Stories, pp. 10-11. 

While the Danes ruled there were many wars. Then came Edward the 
Confessor, weakest of all of the Saxon kings. He had been an exile in 
Normandy, a strong rich land, won long before by the Norsemen from the 
French. He was always fond of Norman ways and most of his advisors and 
friends were Normans. One of his dearest friends was Duke William of 
Normandy. 

Then tell something about Duke William: how he became a knight at 
fifteen and took up the rule of his disorderly country; how he fought his 
way into full power over his strong lords while he was still a boy; how he 
gave to Normandy a government and something like peace; and how he 
proved himself in many a trying case to be a strong, brave leader, and a 
wise though often a harsh master of his land. 

Tell of William’s visit to Edward and of the kind treatment that he 
received. Perhaps it is true that at this time he was promised by Edward 
that the crown of England would go to him at Edward’s death. 

Then tell something about Harold, the bravest and best of a strong old 
Saxon family. Show him as the right hand of Edward, fighting the king’s 
battles for him, enforcing his laws, and keeping his country in some sort 


(149) 


of order. Tell of Harold’s visit to Normandy, of his reception by Duke 
William, of the oath, and what it meant to each, of them. 

Finally, recount the death of Edward and the conditions under which 
Harold took the throne. Describe the effects of the news of all this on 
William: how he dropped everything else and started in to prepare for war 
on Harold. The lesson may properly end with William’s preparations well 
under way. 

A map of southern England and the coast of Normandy should be outlined 
upon the blackboard. On it should be traced the movements of the con¬ 
testants in all the events of this and the following lessons. 

The teacher will not, of course, understand from the constantly recurring 
suggestion of maps and plans that it is considered of importance for the 
pupils to study and remember the details of geographic fact connected with 
the shifting events of our stories. In themselves, most of this map knowl¬ 
edge would prove of no general value; and where it has real value, the 
geography class is the place for instruction concerning it. We use the map 
or plan in literature class work simply as an aid in making the story clear. 
It- is apparent that the interest of the class in any tale will be increased by 
means of such map representations as help them to see clearly the essential 
geographical relations involved in the plot. 

Special references: 

Tappan: In the Days of William the Conqueror, pp. 54-205. 

Blaisdell: Stories from English History, pp. 47-48. 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, Chaps. YI and VII. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 107-119. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 47-50. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Harold taking the oath. 

Lesson Unit Two: Harold’s Victory at Stamford Bridge. 

The following should receive special emphasis in this lesson: 

1. The coming of the invaders from the north, led by Harold’s rebel 
brother and the king of Norway. 

2. Harold’s attempt to make friends with his brother. 

3. The battle at Stamford Bridge. 

4. The feast at York and its tragic ending. 

5. Harold’s march to Hastings. 

6. How both armies prepared for the struggle. 

The chief dramatic action of the lesson is to be developed in the arrival of 
the mud splashed messenger during the celebration feast of the victorious 
Harold at York. In developing this climax the teacher will find excellent 
openings for stimulating questions, such as: 

‘Now that Harold had won from his northern enemies could he not feel 
secure ? ’ ’ 


(150) 


What fear do you suppose troubled Harold as he sat at the feast ? ’ ’ 

“In what way did this first victory leave Harold better prepared for 
William?” 

‘ ‘ In what way did it leave him worse prepared ? ’ * 

“How do you suppose Harold‘felt when he heard that William had landed 
in England?” 

“Were his men in condition to make a forced march?”* 

In this unit we must locate the Battle of Stamford Bridge, trace Will¬ 
iam’s voyage, and place him and his forces at Hastings on our outline map. 

Special references: 

(See references under Lesson Unit One.) 

Chalk Sketch: 

The messenger brings word of William’s invasion to Harold. 

Lesson Unit Three : The Battle of Hastings and What Came of It. 

Special references: 

Tappan: In the Days of William the Conqueror, Chaps. XII 
and XIII. 

Creasy: Fifteen Decisive Battles, “Hastings.” 

Guerber: Story of the English, pp. 73-82. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 50-61. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 167- 
172. 

Church: Stories f)rom English History, pp. 119-124. 

Dickens': Child’s History of England, Chaps. VII and VIII. 

Blaisdell: Stories from English History, pp. 47-56. 

This last day’s work begins with landing of William, which has been men¬ 
tioned as the dramatic climax of the preceding lesson, but which has not as 
yet been described. Then should follow a spirited account of the parleying 
and the individual combats which came before the general battle. The 
details of the Battle of Hastings should be fully developed. (See, Creasy 
and Tappan, above.) 

A diagram of the battlefield showing Norman and Saxon camps, the shore 
and ships, the hill and swamp should be drawn on the blackboard. 

Do not omit the tragic and final reference to Harold: how the Queen 
searched the bloody field, seeking among the stripped bodies of the slain 
until she found the body of the king. 

The story ends with the Battle of Hastings. But we should tell some- 

* The literature teacher will recognize at a glance that these questions are not intended 
for formal quiz work; are not to be fired off, one after the other; are not to be used at all 
in any way adapted to break the thread of the story-telling. They and others like them 
should be interwoven into the work. In almost every incident of the story there is fine 
chance for some suggestive query, some question to arouse the interest that surely comes 
from participation and action, and to insure the full appreciation of each motive, issue 
and turn of the plot. This class participation, through suggestive, constructive, “develop¬ 
ment” questions, is so important to the full success of the work that it can hardly be 
emphasized too much. 


(151) 



thing of what followed: of William’s Doomsday Book, of the inpouring of 
Norman lords and of Norman customs' of the bitterness long continued 
between the Saxons and their conquerors, well illustrated in the story of 
the death of William Rufus. This little concluding sketch will put the 
stage in good shape for Scott’s Ivanhoe whitdi is soon to follow. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The Norman camp by the sea; or, 

The death of Harold. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Tappan: In the Days of William the Conqueror. 

Crommelin: Famous Legends. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What country was conquered by William the Conqueror? 

2. What English king tried to keep him out of England? 

3. What great battle gave William the victory ? 

4. What happened to Harold? 

5. How were the soldiers armed in those days? 

6. How did the knights fight ? 


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RICHARD THE LION HEARTED AND THE CRUSADES. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

The Crusades and their traditions are well worked into our literature. 
They have served as a source for the story-teller and poet. They are strong 
in their emotional appeal. They carry the charm of the age of chivalry 
and the romance of adventure in every line. Even a bare account of them 
savors more of the epic story than of historical siftings. Some one, indeed, 
has called them the romance of the Middle Ages, and this characterization is 
a just one. They were emotional in origin and expression,—filled with 
glamor and illusion. Through them run the motives that spring from 
glorious though often fantastic ideals. Whatever the historian may manage 
to find in them under the tests of his critical solvents is, of course, his own 
affair. Our business here is simply the framing of them as good stories, 
stories true in the main to literal fact, and true at all times to the spirit of 
the times and the ideals of the age that gave them being. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The following subdivisions have been found suitable for lesson units: 

1. The Holy Sepulchre; Pilgrims and Palmers; the Turks; Peter the 
Hermit. 

2. Richard and the Third Crusade. 

3. The Return of Richard. 

4. The Children’s Crusade. 

These may be expanded into five, or even more, lessons if the material 
at hand for the teacher is plentiful. But if the teacher feels unable to make 
at least three well filled story lessons out of them, it would be better for her 
to spend the literature time on something else. Without plenty of detail 
to brighten them, their telling will rather be a dry paraphrase of some high 
school history text. The teacher should read enough of the following refer¬ 
ences to gain, first, an idea of the Crusades as a whole,—as an enterprise 
with certain unities of motive and action; and second, a knowledge of such 
detail and specific circumstance as may be needed to give each lesson unit 
fullness of reality. 


(153) 



General references: 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know, pp. 189-226. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 81-88. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 165-187. 

Farmer: Boys’ Book of Famous Rulers, pp. 195-232. 

Guerber: The Story of the English, pp. 105-117. 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, pp. 79-87. 

Scott: Talisman. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Vol. IV, pp. 663-796. 

(See, also, any good history of the Middle Ages.) 

The Talisman is specially useful here. A reading of it will give the 
teacher a well defined picture of the life of the crusaders. 

The following constant factors in effective work should not be lost 
sight of: 

1. Careful organization of each day’s work. Much will depend upon the 
clearness and directness with which the story unfolds. 

2. The use of maps, sketches, and pictures during the telling. 

3. The introduction of enough detail and incident and direct discourse 
to make each notable situation a vivid reality in the minds of the children. 

4. Constant response and constructive activity on the part of the class. 

It may be well, here, to call special attention to one sort of error which is 

common enough in work that involves the presentation of a remote and very 
different past age,—the error of anachronism. Misconceptions of this 
character may arise from anachronisms actually expressed by the teacher; 
more often they arise by faulty implications on the part of the pupils. In 
either case the remedy is to be found only in extreme care on the part of 
the teacher that each event and accessory involved in the story be given 
sufficient attention to insure a sound understanding of it by the class. Such 
expressions as, “The Christians fired at the men on the walls,” “The Duke 
wrote to Prince John,” “Richard marched his army aboard the ship,” may 
be perfectly clear to the teacher in terms of their actual reality. But it 
would be very natural for the children to understand the first as a reference 
to a rifle volley, the second as a letter duly stamped, mailed and delivered, 
and the last as an embarkation similar to our modern shipment of troops on 
transports. The modern condition will be implied unless the actual nature 
of the transaction is made clear. Such errors often arise from general 
phrases used by the teacher, and properly interpreted by her, but mis¬ 
interpreted by the class. Such expressions as, “hardships of travel,” “lack 
of supplies,” “difficulties of the journey,” “well armed,” “long, hard 
fighting,” are open to very natural misinterpretation by the pupils. Incor¬ 
rect or incomplete understanding of them will be the rule unless they are 
backed up with the incidents, illustrations and specific details needful to 
show each in its full, true light. Such misconceptions, when they arise, 
may not spoil the story; but they certainly damage its culture value, for they 


(154) 


render it less useful than it would otherwise have been in opening the life of 
other days to the appreciations of the pupils. 

Lesson Unit One: The Holy Sepulchre; Pilgrims and Palmers; The 
Turks; Peter the Hermit; The First Crusade. 

Special references: 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 81-84. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 172- 
179. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Vol. IV, pp. 6^3-695. 

Myers: Medieval and Modern History. 

The following is an outline of the contents of this lesson: 

The tomb of Christ in Jerusalem had always been honored by the Chris¬ 
tians. Long ago, many centuries before the Crusades, a fine church had been 
built over it. Men and women came from all over Europe to worship in 
this church. Such a trip was thought to be a very good thing for one to 
take, especially if one had been unusually wicked and had many sins to be 
forgiven. Many nobles, and even kings, went on this long pilgrimage. 
Besides these, there were thousands of other people, many of them good and 
just, who took the journey. 

After awhile came warlike Turks, who captured Jerusalem. These Turks 
were Mohammedans, and they thought that nothing was finer than to make 
it hard for the pilgrims who visited Jerusalem. They killed many of the 
Christians, others were driven out, some had their ears cut off, many were 
beaten and generally abused. Those who dared to stay in Jerusalem had to 
pay a heavy tax. It became almost as much as one’s life was worth for one 
to make a pilgrimage from Europe to Jerusalem. 

All this made the Christians in Europe angry, especially Peter the 
Hermit. (Here some time should be taken to explain how the hermits lived, 
and what the people thought of them. It will be well to give some interest¬ 
ing story about some hermit, so as to complete the introduction. See the 
description of the hermit Brian in Scott’s Lady of the Lake, Canto III, 
Stanzas V-VII.) 

Peter the Hermit talked with several great lords and kings and with the 
Pope. They became angry, too. Then Peter the Hermit started about the 
country, in France particularly, preaching to the people that they should 
start a great expedition, a crusade, to win back the Holy Sepulchre from 
the Turks. Rich and brave leaders heard him, and began to gather their 
armies. The preparation of men, armor, horses and food began. Soon the 
whole country was on fire with the idea. Few thought of the mountains 
and seas and hot sands and fierce enemies that were ahead. They thought it 
would be easy enough to drive the Turks out of the Holy Land. 

Then sketch the story of the First Crusade. Tell of the mustering of the 
forces; of the different commands and lines of march; the adventures 
and hardships by the way; the siege of Nice and of Antioch; and the final 


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capture of Jerusalem. Refer to the map frequently. The hardships of the 
crusaders should be interpreted in terms of hunger and thirst, heat and cold, 
exhaustion and hard fighting. 

The sieges, and particularly the siege of Antioch, should be carefully 
developed. In the siege of Antioch we find a complete summary of the 
mediaeval manner of fighting, and the details incident to taking and sacking 
a walled city. 

Throughout the telling of the Crusades a map of the Mediterranean Sea, 
Southern Europe, and the Holy Land should be in sight. The location of 
each important place should be made on it, and frequent reference should be 
made to it when movements from place to place are being considered. If 
the map be drawn in chalk on the blackboard, so much the better. Then 
lines of march and sites of battles and cities may be worked out on it in red 
chalk as the story develops. 

In this lesson there arise a number of objects suitable for rough black¬ 
board sketching. For example, the catapult, crusader’s sword and Knights 
Templar’s cross may thus be illustrated. 

Chalk sketch: 

The storming of Antioch. (See Ridpath: Yol. IV, p. 688.) 

Lesson Unit Two : Richard and the Third Crusade. 

Special references: 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know, pp. 189-226. 

Scott: Talisman. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 180- 
205. 

Guerber: Story of the English, pp. 105-110. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 165-187. 

Blaisdell: Stories from English History, pp. 66-71. 

Farmer: Boys’ Book of Famous Rulers, pp. 195-228. 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, Chap. XIII. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. IY, pp. 726-741. 

The principal points of emphasis are: 

1. The Saracen uprising; Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem. 

2. The gathering of new forces-for the Third Crusade. 

3. The exploits of Richard, especially the siege of Acre. 

Richard and Saladin are the principal figures in this lesson, and Scott’s 
Talisman is the best place to go for suggestion. If the course gives time for 
it the Talisman may be stripped down to essential characters and incidents 
and presented at this point in half a dozen lessons. 

Chalk sketch: 

Knights fighting. 


(156) 


Lesson Unit Three: Richard’s Return from the Holy Land. 

Special references: 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stories, pp. 97-107. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 184-187 

Guerber: Story of the English, pp. 110-113. 

Parmer: Boys’ Book of Famous Rulers, pp. 228-232. 

Here is a story, half legend, half fact, fit to rank among our best historical 
tales. The following outline should be expanded into life: 

Worn out with sickness and hard fighting, Richard takes ship with his 
men for England. His vessel is wrecked in the Adriatic and he is cast 
ashore on the coast of Austria. The Duke of Austria is Richard’s enemy. 
In order to get safely through this enemy’s land, Richard takes refuge in 
a disguise, the garb of a wandering minstrel. He makes his way from tavern 
to tavern and town to town until finally he is detected because of his 
royal signet ring. Then he is made captive and cast into prison. 

Meanwhile, in England, the miserable Prince John, Richard’s brother, 
is well pleased with Richard’s long absence. He gives it out that Richard 
is dead and makes no effort to raise the ransom asked by his captors for his 
release. 

Then comes Blondel, faithful squire to Richard, who sings beneath every 
prison window in Austria until he hears his master’s voice reply. Once 
assured by Blondel that Richard is still alive, the English people, who love 
their king for his bravery, quickly raise the heavy ransom and set him free. 
The episode of Blondel’s search is the best part of the story. 

Chalk sketch: 

Blondel singing beneath the walls of Richard’s prison; or, 

Richard as a wandering minstrel. 

Lesson Unit Four: The Children’s Crusade. 

Special references: 

Gray: The Children’s Crusade. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. IV, pp. 751-752. 

In this story the heroic and romantic elements in the story of the Crusades 
sink before the pathos of the children’s disaster. It is a tale stranger 
than all of its strange predecessors, but true even to the extent of its most 
fantastic details. Besides, in spirit and result it is typical of the whole 
movement. The Crusades were undertaken under the lashings of an emo¬ 
tional excitement based upon high ideals of religious duty and the primitive 
passion for adventure and fighting. Cool headed planning was lacking, and 
the military results of the enterprise, as a whole, may w.ell be figured in the 
results of the ill-starred Children’s Crusade. 

Chalk sketch: 

Stephen leading his host. 


(157) 


For Pleasure Reading. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know. 

Gilbert: Wandering Heroes. 

Crommelin: Famous Legends. 

Scott: Talisman. 

Henty: The Boy Knight. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Why were the English proud of King Richard the Lion Hearted. 

2. Why was he called Richard the Lion Hearted, or Richard Coeur de 
Lion ? 

3. In what great war against the Turks did he take part ? 

4. What were the Crusades all about? 

5. Who were the Mohammedans? 

6. Who were palmers and pilgrims? 

7. Tell about Richard’s trip back from the Crusades. 

8. What part did Peter the Hermit play in the Crusades ? 

9. What was the Children’s Crusade? 

10. What were the Knights Templar? 

11. What is the novel the “Talisman” about? 

12. What was a tournament? 

13. How were the Jews treated in England at the time of the Crusades? 

14. Who wrote the “Talisman”? 


(15$) 


SHERIDAN’S RIDE 


General Comment and Suggestion. 

One of the best known poems of American war patriotism is Sheridan’s 
Hide by Thomas Buchanan Read. It is typical of a considerable class of 
popular ballads singing of heroic leadership in the fight. As long as men 
hold in honor those who through sacrifice, courage and wisdom have led 
American soldier to victory, this poem and those of its kind will have a 
place in the lore of Americans. Hence its place in a course of study in 
literature whose aim is to give to children some share in the common 
literary culture of their race. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

First give the class some idea of the situation out of which the action 
described in the poem arose. The Confederate cause was in desperate plight. 
Sherman had marched to the sea through the heart of the South. Grant was 
drawing his lines about Richmond. As a desperate venture, Lee, the 
resourceful Confederate general, sent Early with a large force on a raid 
down the Shenandoah Valley to threaten the Federal capital, Washington. 
Sheridan was sent to head Early off and defeated him in two battles. Then, 
feeling secure for the moment, Sheridan had gone on a hurried trip to Wash¬ 
ington. On his way back he stopped over night at the little town of Win¬ 
chester. But meanwhile Early had not been idle. Gathering his forces for 
a last blow he attacked the northern army while Sheridan was still away, 
and soon had most of it in confusion and a portion of it under flight. ' 

On the morning after the night’s rest at Winchester, Sheridan was sur¬ 
prised to hear the sound of distant cannon fire. He first thought that it 
came from some unimportant skirmish. As soon as he learned the real cause 
of the noise he set out for the firing line with all speed. The poem may be 
trusted to tell the remainder of the story. 

The following references will supplement the above outline of events: 

State Series: New Grammar School U. S. History , pp. 404-405. 

Harper and Bros.: Strange Stories of the Civil War, pp. 163-291. 

Roosevelt and Lodge: Hero Tales from American History, pp. 279- 
291. 

Hart: Contemporaries, Vol. IV, pp. 422-428. 


(159) 



The poem may be found in the following collections: 

Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know. 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Gayley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People. 

Scollard: Ballads of American Patriotism. 

Stevenson : Poems of American History. 

Take up the poem in the manner suggested for other selections. First, 
read and interpret it carefully. Arouse class expression of understanding 
and appreciation. Then re-read the whole poem without interruption for 
the sake of its effect as a whole. 

One lesson should prove sufficient for this work. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Sheridan on the road from Winchester; or, 

The Statue: Sheridan on horseback. 


For Pleasure Reading. 

Roosevelt and Lodge: Hero Tales from American History. 

Some of the children will like to read similar ballads of heroism such as : 
Paul Revere’s Ride, The Alamo, Barbara Frietchie, Keenan’s Charge, Little 
Giffen, Old John Burns. 


(160) 


IVANMOE. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

There seems to be no doubt that at this time the works of Walter Scott 
are not read as generally as was once the case. Whether this is a good or 
a bad sign as to our latter day literary tastes is a question that this course 
of study has no business in attempting to answer. The world has a way 
of attending to such matters for itself, and in the long run manages to attend 
to them with considerable wisdom and satisfaction to itself. But whether 
Scott is read more or less than he was fifty years ago, the plain fact remains 
that even at the present time every one who knows anything about books 
has heard of him; and every one who can claim a fairly good adjustment 
to the literary demands of common, every-day life has read at least one of 
his novels. Moreover, it is similarly known that his novels are historical 
in setting; that they deal with chivalry, the crusades, border troubles, and 
feudal disorders. 

Some acquaintance with Scott’s works is therefore necessary. This is 
doubly true because the life portrayed in his novels has many aspects with 
which the person of ordinarily good education must be acquainted. Feudal 
customs, chivalry and its uses, wood-ranging outlaws in jackets of green, 
castles and tournaments and tilt yards, all claim at least a distant place 
in our fund of knowledge. To these and their like, and to their spirit as 
well as to their visible forms, Scott gives us the best introduction. 

Scott’s novels are a splendid emotional stimulus as well as a basis for 
useful historical and literary knowledge. It has been said that his char¬ 
acters are gilded and toned up beyond all human semblance, and to some 
degree the charge must be allowed. But they are never unreal to the reader, 
and so never fail to exert a constant claim upon his best impulses and sym¬ 
pathies. Because the stories sometimes portray characters who are too 
magnanimous, or brave, or just, or courteous for this or even for that age, 
it is a poor reason for us to withhold our admiration for their high qualities, 
or, fearing a like supereminence of virtue on our part, to fail to respond in 
sympathy with their ideals. Their lives and times were different from 
those of the twentieth century; yet many of their problems were about the 
same as ours, and many of their brave or kindly or courteous or contempt¬ 
ible acts find close modern counterparts in similar situations. Therefore, 
it is good for the one whose emotional life is in the shaping to strike the 
right attitude at the side of Scott’s heroes or heroines. 

( 161 ) 


11 — Bul. 10 



Ivanhoe is, probably, Scott’s best known novel. It deals with many phases 
of the life of the times, it is full of historical common knowledge, it is almost 
faultless as to local color and atmosphere, it contains a large number of 
situations which will arouse the pupil to helpful emotional experiences, and 
it is, withal, an excellent story,—filled with movement, spectacular events, 
vivid scenes, stirring motives, and stirring deeds. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher should read the whole story through carefully before telling 
any part of it. So much of the fascinating mystery and unexpected out¬ 
come of events depend upon the teller seeing all parts at once that it will 
not be possible to give the right touch and the proper suggestion without 
this general view. It is assumed that the teacher will be somewhat familiar 
by this time with the conditions of time, place, and general circumstance 
that surround the plot. 

Lesson units are not arranged for the teacher in this because of the 
variations that they would have to suffer in being applied to the classroom. 
In a story so long and so full of places where the time consumed in pres¬ 
entation should be freely altered to suit the immediate demands of the case, 
it would not be of use to propose rigid lesson units. The teacher, however, 
should plan out each day’s work carefully in advance. By doing so she will 
more nearly be able to assure herself of the following: first, that the neces¬ 
sary preparation has been made; second, that the emphasis is to be properly 
directed; third, that the plot is to be held together in a wav to make the 
whole story most effective; fourth, that the lesson unit has dramatic interest 
in itself, and that it takes the fortunes of the characters one step nearer to 
the final outcome. The story should be told in not more than twenty lessons. 

Into the preparation of each day’s work should be woven the results of 
such suggestions as follow: problems for discussion by the class; anticipa¬ 
tions to be whetted; mysteries to be guessed at; scenes to be visualized; maps, 
diagrams, and pictures to be used; and all the methodology demanded by 
that day’s work. 

It will be well to say a word to the class in advance about the story. Tell 
them briefly that it deals with the times when Richard was away on his 
crusading and when the Normans and Saxons were not yet become a single 
race; that it is an historical novel,—that is to say, a story dealing with his¬ 
torical characters and involving many situations well grounded on fact; 
that it is one of the first historical novels ever written and that its author, 
Scott, was the first and the greatest of all historical novelists. 

As much as possible of the background of general circumstance should be 
brought out in the story as it is told, as for instance, the relation of Jew and 
Gentile, the institution of the Knights Templar, the nature of tournaments, 
the forest laws, outlawry, etc. 

Instead of lesson units, it is proposed to set forth certain subdivisions of 
the story which constitute the steps by which the movement of the plot 

( 162 ) 


reaches its conclusion. Each of these is vital to the well-rounded presenta¬ 
tion of the tale, and each therefore deserves careful presentation and just 
emphasis. It must be remembered at all times that the significance of a 
situation in the development of the story is in no way proportionate to the 
length of time that must be employed in properly recounting it. A whis¬ 
pered word, a careless act of kindness, or a chance and momentary glance at 
a fair heroine may be productive of the most far-reaching consequences. 
The proper degree of emphasis and care in presentation that each of the 
following topics demands must depend on the importance of each in the 
unfolding of the story. Such suggestions as follow the story subdivisions 
are designed to help in seeing the significance that certain of them hold, 
and to illustrate how they may stand for what they are worth in the telling: 

1. Cedric the Saxon in an ill humor, fuming over trivial and serious dis¬ 
appointments. (The story is most effectively told to a class with this 
beginning. After having introduced the hearers to Cedric’s state of mind 
and fortune, and incidentally to many of the underlying conditions of time 
and place that his gloomy spirits reflect, the scene should change to the 
doings of Wamba and Gurth, and thence should follow the order of the 
events as given in the text.) 

2. Gurth and Wamba in the forest: 

3. The travelers. Prior Aymer and Sir Brian, and how they found their 
way to Cedric’s hall. 

4. Dinner at Cedric’s. (This scene holds the source of much of the 
ensuing action and should be very carefully worked out. Bring out, espe¬ 
cially, the mystery surrounding the Palmer; the race pride and ambitions 
of Cedric; the character of Sir Brian and his infatuation for Rowena; 
Rowena’s remarkable interest in news from the Holy Land; the Jew’s 
furtiveness and the good reasons for it; and the origin of the enmity between 
Sir Brian and Ivanhoe by proxy of the mysterious Palmer.) 

5. How the Jew was saved from the plot of Sir Brian; and the Palmer’s 
secret to Gurth. 

6. How the Palmer found himself in horse and armor. 

7. Prince John’s schemings: political conditions in England during the 
absence of King Richard. 

8. Preparations for the great tournament at Ashby. 

9. The first day of the jousting: the triumph of the Disinherited Knight 
over the five challengers. 

10. Rebecca proves herself a grateful friend of the Disinherited Knight : 
how the horse and armor were paid for. 

11. The second day of the tournament: the triumph of the Disinherited 
Knight over Sir Brian, and how he was discovered to be Ivanhoe. Enters, 
the Black Knight. 

12. De Bracy and Sir Brian’s plot to seize Rowena. 

13. The Black Knight spends a merry evening with a merry anchorite. 

14. Cedric’s journey toward home, and the wayfarers who joined his 
train. 


(163) 


15. The attack on Cedric’s party and their imprisonment in the castle of 
Front de Boeuf. 

16. How the designs of Front de Bceuf, De Bracy, and Sir Brian are 
variously disturbed by the arrival of a strangely assorted rescue party. 

17. Wamba risks his neck to secure the escape of Cedric. 

18. How it falls out that the sick man is Ivanhoe. 

19. The capture of the castle; death of Front de Boeuf; and the libera¬ 
tion of the prisoners. (The story of Ulfried should be skillfully interwoven 
as a minor thread in subdivisions 14, 15, 16, and 17, and rises to a place of 
supreme importance in the events attending the fall of the stronghold.) 

20. Supposed death of Athelstane; Sir Brian’s escape with Rebecca. 

21. The dispersal of the captives after their release; and the division of 
the spoils among the outlaws. 

22. Prince John hears of King Richard’s return and plots to haye him 
waylaid. 

23. Isaac’s attempt to ransom his daughter; her trial as a witch, and the 
arrangements for final trial by combat; Sir Brian’s vain attempt to win 
her by offering to desert his order. 

24. The Black Knight and Ivanhoe at the priory; and how after wayside 
adventures they find themselves at Athelstane’s funeral festivities. 

25. The Black Knight becomes King Richard, and reconciles Cedric with 
Ivanhoe; Athelstane attends his own funeral feast and renounces his 
affianced bride. 

26. How Rebecca was saved and Sir Brian destroyed. 

27. How every one who deserves it is made happy. 

The story, although full of action and varied complexity of plot, is 
singularly free from multiplicity of indispensable characters. Some of 
them, however, have unusual names, and several must be known under two 
or more names. The following list is offered as a suggestion as to what 
names should be used: 

Cedric, Wamba, Gurth, Prior Aymer, Sir Brian, the Palmer, (otherwise 
known as the Disinherited Knight, Wilfred, and Ivanhoe,) Rowena, Athel¬ 
stane, Isaac, Prince John, De Bracy, Front de Boeuf, Locksley alias Robin 
Hood, the Black Knight, (otherwise, King Richard the Lion Hearted,) 
the Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst alias Friar Tuck, Ulfried, Rebecca, and the 
Grand Master. 

Each name should be written on the board when it first occurs. Such 
abbreviations as Sir Brian for the almost impossible Sir Brian de Bois 
Guilbert are to be recommended. When we meet a character in a single 
relation only, as the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Sir Lucas 
Beaumanoir, he may be simply and effectively referred to by title or by 
some such descriptive epithet. The names of places most necessary to be 
used in the telling are: Rotherwood, Ashby, Sherwood Forest, Torquilstone, 
Templestowe, and Palestine. It should be remembered that a needless 
multiplicity of names renders the story tangled and obscure, and makes it 

( 164 ) 


almost impossible for the class to do much in the way of retelling or even 
in active participation in the presentation. 

Certain scenes of the story should be made so vivid as to result in their 
visualization by the class. This is especially necessary when the scene is 
the background for events of the first importance in the development of the 
story; when the visualization of the scene is necessary for a clear notion 
of the events and for the degree of appreciation desired; and when the 
scene is one that will serve as a type, helping the class to a conception of 
something worth knowing and understanding for its own sake without 
respect to its importance in the plot. For one or more of these reasons 
each of the following scenes is recommended for crisp, clear, vivid pres¬ 
entation. 

1. Reception of the travelers in Cedric’s hall. Bring out the gloomy 
frame of mind in which Cedric was before his visitors arrived. Describe 
the great hall, with its blackened oaken beams, its skin-covered floors, huge 
fireplace, and armor hanging upon the wall. Describe the manner of 
Cedric tow r ard his Norman guests, to the Jew, to the Palmer, and to his 
ward, the Lady Rowena. Hospitality of a rude but generous sort should 
give tone to the scene; but race jealousy and suspicion and pride are always 
to be seen lurking in its shawdows. 

2. The tournament. Describe the jousting field, with its benches and 
boxes graded to the social status of the spectators. Bring in the bright 
colors of the banners and costumes and plumes of the courtiers and knights. 
Introduce the herald, with his trumpet and announcements. Give a clear 
picture of the knights in action: how the lances were placed in rest while 
a hush fell over the audience; how the mail-covered horses charged from 
each end toward the center of the arena; how lances were shivered, horses 
overthrown, and riders thrust from their saddles by the impact of the 
charge. Bring out the confusion and uproar and dust and clangor of the 
melee. Thus will be built up an effective background for the exploits of 
the mysterious champions, the Disinherited Knight and the Black Knight. 

3. The Black Knight in the anchorite’s hermitage. Introduce all the 
external signs of piety and abstemiousness that were to be seen; then reveal 
each successive detail of the real life of the worldly hermit. Show how the 
knight and the friar came to respect each other’s good qualities. 

4. Front de Boeuf’s castle. The following features typical of a mediaeval 
Norman stronghold should be brought out: the moat, drawbridge, portcullis, 
high towers and bastions, dungeon cells with instruments of torture, stone 
floors, great hall, central courtyard, postern gate, and barbican. A chalk 
sketch of the castle will prove easy to make and most effective in giving the 
class a clear mental picture. 

5. The capture of the castle. Here we have an excellent type of the 
method used in storming a mediaeval stronghold. The capture of the castle 
should be presented in a series of clear-cut narrative pictures: 


(165) 


(a) Show how Front de Boeuf arranged his garrison for defense, and 
how the rescue party planned their attack. 

(b) Present details of how the Black Knight led his party successfully 
against the barbican of the postern gate. 

(c) Describe each step of the forcing of the postern gate, 

(d) Give a clear picture of the horror of Front de Boeuf’s death. 

(e) Describe the escape of the inmates from the burning castle. 

The scenes involved in (a), (6), and (c) may be well presented by letting 
Rebecca describe them to Ivanhoe while we listen. 

6. The outlaws’ tryst after the capture of the castle. Bring out the joy 
of the outlaws over their victory; their fairness in the division of the 
spoils; the obedience they showed Locksley, their leader; their standards 
of physical manhood and courage as shown in the bout between the Black 
Knight and Friar Tuck; their underlying sense of fair play and justice, 
and the spirit of freedom that characterized every act. 

7. Athelstane’s funeral festivities. Bring out the details of the feasting, 
drinking, and formal ceremony that accompanied the rites. It should all 
be described in terms of what the Black Knight saw and thought. 

8. The trial of Rebecca by combat. Make clear to the class the picture 
of the tilt yard, with its benches for spectators and its high paling all 
around. Describe the gathering of the Templars; the preparation of the 
iron stake and •the fagots; the announcement of the trial by combat; 
Rebecca’s vain waiting for a champion; Sir Brian’s conflicting emotions 
and his urgent appeal to Rebecca; and finally, just as the sun was about 
to dip, the arrival of Ivanhoe. Through the whole of this tragic scene 
one question should hold the class: What can be done and what will be done 
to save Rebecca not only from the wretched Sir Brian, but from her impend¬ 
ing doom at the stake? 

A common-sense, working understanding of each of the above scenes, and 
ii* less degree of many other scenes laid in the story, will serve in such type 
forming as will help the pupil in a thousand frequent allusions, references, 
and experiences in his wider relations with art, literature, the play, history 
and, for that matter, common conversation. 

In attempting to make the class visualize or see in imagination any 
particular scene, the use of maps, diagrams, sketches, chalk-talk work, and 
pictures should be used. A rough plan showing the relations between 
Rotherwood, Sherwood Forest, Ashby, the scene of the roadside attack, 
Torquilstone and the anchorite’s cell, will be helpful in making parts of 
the action clear. 

All of the characters listed among the names mentioned above as essential 
in the telling are drawn by Scott with force and distinctness. The follow¬ 
ing list of attributes is therefore a selection of those pertaining to the most 
essential personages in the story. Each has minor aspects as we view his 
actions, yet the side to be emphasized is the one here suggested: 

1. Cedric’s dominant characteristic is to be found in his descriptive title, 


(166) 


The Saxon. He is a brave, unselfish man; but stubborn beyond reason, and 
severely rather than kindly just. Above all he is intensely devoted to the 
Saxon cause. Remember that one or another, or perhaps a combination of 
several, of these attributes is shown in every act and motive of his. 

2. Ivanhoe: marked by Saxon loyalty, but without prejudice against 
Norman virtues. Above all, true to his king. Brave in action, chivalrous, 
generous to friend and foe. Eminently skilled in the accomplishments of 
knighthood. Wholly possessed by a deep, constant, and admirable love for 
Rowena. 

3. Rowena : rather less clearly portrayed than most of the other principal 
characters. A passive character throughout the story. Beautiful, however, 
and good and kind. Constant to Ivanhoe and the ideals for w*hich he 
stands. 

4. Wamba: the fool in the case, and yet sometimes the wisest man. 
Marked by great loyalty for Cedric and his house; possessing a wit ever 
ready for repartee or sharp strategy, and harboring an overmastering desire 
to make it hot for Normans. 

5. Gurth: a burly fellow of great strength and of courage enough when 
the interests of his masters are at stake. Loyal through all extremes to 
Cedric and the Saxon interests. 

6. Athelstane: a Saxon glutton; type of the man of great heart and 
capable of splendid action who gives himself up to swinish tastes and habits. 

7. King Richard (the Black Knight) : fond of adventure, brave and 
efficient as a warrior, ready to see real worth even when lacking its custom¬ 
ary social trappings. Fond of rough, wild escapades. Interested in the 
welfare of his subjects, and especially interested in Ivanhoe. Above all a 
paragon in arms. 

8. Prince John: a rascal caitiff, treacherous, cruel, selfish, tactless, unjust, 
always attempting to undermine his brother’s kingship. An unreasoning 
foe to all Saxons. A foil to Richard in every virtue of that hero. 

9. Sir Brian: proud, imperious, cruel, given to sudden and violent pas¬ 
sions. willing to sink all vows and principles in the effort to gratify his 
ambitions. Showing extreme hatred of all things Saxon. 

10. Isaac: shrewd, cringing, abased through persecution; but kind to 
those who treat him kindly and holding a great love for his daughter. 

11. Rebecca: gentle, grateful for kindness, possessed of supreme courage; 
a noble and thoroughly womanly woman. 

12. Locksley: skilled in woodcraft, a menace only to the rich oppressors; 
kind, brave, and loyal at heart. 

In attempting to endow each of the above individuals with the proper 
characteristics, the teacher must remember that little is to be gained by 
direct description in general terms. It avails little as far as vivid, realistic 
portrayal goes to say that Wamba was quick-witted; but the desired idea 
may be given if a few of his sharp comments are retold in direct discourse,, 
and if his scheme to save Cedric, his resourcefulness while riding forth 


( 167 ) 


with King Richard, and other concrete illustrations of his shrewdness are 
presented in vigorous detail. The teacher should remember that she has 
certain characters with certain dominant characteristics to make real, and 
should play each actor so as to make him reveal his inmost self in every 
motive, feeling, and act. 

The following charts or plans should be sketched and used as indicated: 

1. The great hall of Cedric; to be used when telling of the entertainment 
of the travelers there. 

2. The lists at Ashby; to be used when telling about the tournament. 

3. Plan of Torquilstone; showing the bestowal of the prisoners and the 
details of the storming. 

The following chalk sketches are simple and effective: 

1. Knight on horseback; with slight variations useful in many stages of 
the story. 

2. Rotherwood; showing towers, drawbridge, moat, and method of forti¬ 
fication. 

'3. Torquilstone,—exterior view. This should be made a typical mediaeval 
castle. 

4. Isaac’s dungeon; showing fireplace, torture irons, chains, stone pillars, 
and the skeleton in manacles. 

5. Preparations to burn Rebecca; showing judges and spectators, stake, 
firewood piled up, and Rebecca just about to take her place upon it. 

The following pictures are found in so many histories and history story 
books that it is not necessary to give specific references: 

1. A tournament scene. 

2. Knight in single combat. 

3. A jester. 

4. Medieval castle under storm. 

5. Robin Hood pictures. 

When using a map, plan, chalk sketch, or picture the teacher should 
bring the illustration into as close conjunction with the events of the story 
as possible. Therefore, it is better to draw the map, or the plan, and to 
show the picture, while in the very act of telling. In this way the use of 
the illustration in making relations clear is intensified. 

Without doubt the teacher will see, without any one pointing it out to 
her, that the story of Ivanhoe owes a large part of its interest to the charm 
of the element of mystery that it contains. Constantly the reader’s imagina¬ 
tion is whetted and all his detective instincts aroused by the frequent con¬ 
fusions and disguises of identity, and in the unexplained meaning of events. 
Each of the following is a question that should be developed in its proper 
place in the telling. And the conjectures and anticipations aroused by the 
mystery suggested by the questions will go a long way to give the story its 
strong hold on the interests of the class. 

1. Who was the Palmer in Cedric’s hall? 

2. Why was Rowena so anxious for news from the Holy Land? 


( 168 ) 


3. What did the Palmer whisper to Gurth? 

4. Who were the outlaws who stopped Gurth on his way home from the 
Jew’s? 

5. Who was the Black Knight? 

6. What sort of life did the outlaws live? 

7. Who was the sick man borne in the Jew’s litter? 

8. What did the Black Knight whisper to De Bracy at the postern gate? 

9. Where was Isaac when the castle was burning? 

10. Where was the Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst when the spoils were 
divided ? 

11. What befell Ivanhoe after the Black Knight rescued him? 

12. What champion could Rebecca expect to find? 

13. What did the Black Knight plan to do when he left Ivanhoe recov¬ 
ering at the priory? 

14. Who was it that called upon Ivanhoe when he was attending Athel- 
stane’s funeral feast? 

15. Who were the minstrel and sturdy priest that came to the trial of 
Rebecca ? 

16. Why did Rebecca leave the trial without thanking Ivanhoe? 

It is, of course, understood that these questions are all answered in the 
development of the story. But during the progress of the tale one or more 
of them continually claims the attention and keeps the mind busy planning 
possible outcomes in answer to it. It will be well for the teacher to let the 
class give frequent expression to their suspicions or conjectures as to the 
answers, and to that end to make the questions vital problems in the unfold¬ 
ing of events. 


For Pleasure Reading. 

Scott: Ivanhoe. 

Scott: Talisman. 

Scott: Kenilworth. 

Mulock: John Halifax, Gentleman. 

Barbour: For the Honor of the School. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 


Cumulative Review. 

1. What character in Ivanhoe do you like best? Why? 

2. How did the Normans and Saxons feel toward each other in the days 
of King Richard ? 

3. How were the Jews treated in those days? 

4. Describe the tournament scene. 

5. Who was Robin Hood? 

6. What sort of life did the outlaws live? 


( 169 ) 



7. Describe a castle of the time of Ivanhoe. 

8. What was a jester? 

9. Describe the appearance of a knight equipped for fighting. 

10. Who were the Knights Templar? 

11. How were heretics and those accused of witchcraft treated in those 
days ? 

12. Why is Ivanhoe called an historical novel? 

13. Who wrote Ivanhoe t 

14. What other work of Scott have you read? 

15. When and in what land did Scott live and write? 


( 170 ) 


KING JOHN AND THE MAGNA CHARTA. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

Tyrannous rulers have always been a stock theme for ballad, legend, and 
story. From ancient times down*to our own day it is easy to find a great 
store of tradition in which they are represented in all their wickedness. 
In the lore of English speaking people, King John is probably the best 
known and most thorough-going villain-king. He was so many-sided in his 
wickedness that literature has drawn heavily upon him. The mention of 
his name calls up his shabb}- treatment of his brother, Richard, his murder 
of Prince Arthur, and his mingled arrogance and pusillanimity, which led 
to the wresting from him of the Great Charter. 

Therefore, we claim him for our course, for his fame or infamy has been 
the basis for stories deep-rooted in our common culture. Besides as hinted 
above, the King John stories introduce us to a large class of similar story 
and legend. Through them we shall meet a typical tyrant, hate his oppres¬ 
sions and weaknesses, sympathize with those whom he wrongs, and, finally, 
triumph in his downfall. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Gilman: Magna Charta Stories, pp. 7-22. 

Guerber: Story of the English, pp. 117-124. 

Baldwin: Thirty More Famous Stones, pp. 108-122. 

Blaisdell: Stories from English History, pp. 72-77. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 89-91. 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, Chap. XIV. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 187-191. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 185- 
197. 

Shakespeare: King John. 

Lesson Unit One: How a Bad Son and Brother Became a Bad King. 

In this lesson emphasize the following: 

1. How John proved traitor to his father. 

2. How John plotted against Richard. (Review- John’s conduct toward 
his brother and the country at large w-hile he v-as Prince Regent during 
Richard’s absence on the crusade.) 


( 171 ) 



3. How John seized the throne and cast Prince Arthur into prison. 
Chalk sketch: 

Arthur in the tower. 

Lesson Unit Two : The Fate of Arthur. 

The details of this lesson are fully supplied in Shakespeare’s King John. 
Do not, however, follow the story of the death of Arthur as it is given in 
the play. The better version, and that most generally accepted, may be 
found in the other references given above. 

Chalk Sketch: 

The murder of Arthur. 

Lesson Unit Three : How the Magna Charta was Won. 

By means of illustrations, make clear and vivid the manner in which John 
made himself a tyrant to his people. Then tell how the barons, who despised 
his weakness just as they hated his treachery, forced him to promise reforms 
time and time again, and how he always broke his worthless word. Finally, 
describe the meeting at Runnymede: the barons grim and determined; John 
trembling with fear and hate. Explain, in simple terms, what the Charter 
meant, and why we think so much of it. Make clear, by simple illustration, 
just what rights were won for the people when it was signed. (See, Church 
and Gilman, above, for suggestions in this.) 

The topic ends with the death of the miserable king. 

Chalk Sketch: 

John signing the Magna Charta. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Andrews: Ten Boys. 

Youth’s Companion Series: Stories of Purpose and Success. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Why did the people of England hate King John? 

2. Tell the story of Prince Arthur. 

3. What was the Magna Charta? 


( 172 ) 


WILLIAM TELL 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This story is chief among heroic and patriotic legends of the Swiss, and 
has become generally known by all people among whom stories of liberty 
winning are told. Its unfailing popularity is due to the spectacular way in 
which it presents the old story of the victory of patriotism over tyranny,— 
of single-handed courage over bullying strength. Just as all men love 
to see justice and right triumph, so have they thrilled to the exploits of 
Tell. lie is, therefore, known not only as the genius of Swiss patriotism, 
but also as one of the world’s ideals,—the representative of courage and 
sacrifice overcoming political oppression. 

Whether it be scientific history or legendary history is a matter of no 
moment to the literature teacher, and should cause no uneasiness. Like most 
old hero tales of the middle ages, there is doubtless much that actually 
occurred and much that did not happen in the tale as we know it. Tell it as 
a good story for all that it is worth. It is quite enough to know that the 
story is true to the spirit of its times, and that it has been a powerful 
element in the national career of Switzerland and in the culture of the whole 
western world. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Morris: Historical Tales, Germany, pp. 145-157. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know, pp. 227-249. 

Crommelin: Famous Legends, pp. 142-152. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 226- 
231. 

Scudder: Book of Legends , pp. 22-25. 

Schiller: William Tell. (Handy Literal Trans. Series.) 

This story may be presented in one lesson unit. If there be time for it, 
however, it may be wmrked up into three or four days’ work by following 
some of the details of the story as dramatized by Schiller. Schiller’s account 
is, of course, the best. But the teacher who wishes to get from the tale its 
fundamental, commonly current values only, will have no place in her 
presentation for the multiplicity of names, persons, places, and by-plots 
that the great drama contains. The following suggestions are based on a 
presentation of the story in one lesson. 

A clear notion should first be given of the conditions under which the 
action of the story took place. This can be best accomplished not by a 
general discussion of political and social conditions, but rather by present¬ 
ing illustrative incidents that show the life of the times in vivid concrete 
episodes. The teacher will find useful material for this purpose in Morris’ 
Historical Tales, Germany, pages 145-149, and also in Schiller’s drama. 

( 173 ) 



The hardy, unrestrained life of the Swiss should he brought out at every 
step. Likewise the setting of snow crags, dark forests, rugged paths, green 
valley patches, rock girt lakes should be brought into view whenever pos¬ 
sible. Avoid elaborate descriptive digressions. Weave the setting into the 
story, constantly associating action and background. 

The principal dramatic situations in the story, as arranged for a single 
unit, are as follows: 

1. Tell’s refusal to bow to the hat. 

2. The cleaving of the apple. 

3. Tell’s arrest. 

4. The escape from the boat. 

5. The slaying of Gessler. 

Each of these crises should be approached through a circumstantial 
presentation of the details that lead up to it. 

The tale is full of problems,—places where Tell has a choice of ways 
before him. The pupil should follow the hero with such interest that in 
imagination he puts himself in the hero’s place and enters into the solution 
of each problem of conduct. Should Tell have refused to bow to the tyrant’s 
hat 1 ? What were the reasons he had to resist,—what to submit? What 
should he have done when commanded to shoot at the apple ? What should 
he have done after his escape? Was it right to kill Gessler from ambush? 
These are some of the more important problems,—and in each case Tell 
solves the difficulty presented by serving the needs of his people. 

Do not leave the story without bringing the forest cantons to union and 
independence. Hint, also, that there is to be a sequel to the story. Tell 
won freedom for the Swiss, but another brave man was needed later to 
preserve that independence. 

Swiss pictures, especially a picture of the statue of Tell, (see, Morris, page 
150,) should be shown at proper places in the story. 

Chalk sketch : 

Tell cleaving the apple; or, 

The escape from the boat. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Scollard: Ballads of American Bravery. 

Morris: Historic Tales, Germany. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who was William Tell? 

2. Relate how Tell shot the apple off his boy’s head. 

3. What remarkable escape did Tell make when his enemies were taking 
him to prison ? 

4. Did the Swiss win their freedom ? 

( 174 ) 


ARNOLD Of WINKELRIED 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This story is almost literally true. It tells how, some seventy years after 
Tell’s exploits, another Swiss hero, Arnold of Winkelried, saved, at a cost 
of his life, the Swiss independence. The general atmosphere and local color 
will have been supplied by the preceding story. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

References: 

Morris: Historical Tales, Germany, pp. 181-191. 

Baldwin: Fifty famous Stories, pp. 66-68. 

Montgomery: Arnold of Winkelried. (Poem.) 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 231- 
233. 

Yonge: Book of Golden Deeds, pp. 164-169. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Yol. Y, pp. 92-94. 

There is one principal dramatic situation in the story: the sacrifice made 
by Arnold. But the events that lead up to it are full of interest, and, 
properly told, arouse a breathless expectancy as to the final outcome. 

Begin with the marshaling of the forces by Leopold, Duke of Austria. 
Describe in as full detail as possible the organization and successful advance 
of his host. Then tell of the spreading of the alarm among the Swiss 
peasants, and of the hurried and rude measures of defense taken by them. 
Describe the difference in motives, equipment, efficiency, and state of mind 
of the opposing forces. Draw a clear word picture of the two opposing 
hosts at Sempach; of the advancing Austrian phalanx that crushed back 
the disordered band of mountaineers; and finally, of Arnold’s brave act. 
But before reaching this final climax, describe him as a simple peasant, 
desperate over the impending defeat of his neighbors; portray what he 
felt, what forces swayed his mind, what motives contended within him. 
If this be done skillfully, the class will, to a degree, live through the 
experiences of Arnold and will gain the values of the emotional culture 
that such an experience, even when imaginary, contains. 

A picture of the statue to the memory of Arnold of Winkelried should be 
shown to the class. (See, Morris, page 186.) 

Chalk sketch: 

The Austrian phalanx. 


( 175 ) 



For Pleasure Reading. 

Price: Wandering Heroes. 

Hale: Man Without a Country. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 


Cumulative Review. 

1. What country did Arnold of Winkelried die to save? 

2. Sketch the story of Arnold. 


( 176 ) 


A LEGEND OF BERGENZ. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This poem is not so well known as most of the other short poems included 
in the course. But it stands with “Horatius,” “How They Brought Good 
News,” and “Sheridan’s Ride” as an excellent type of the heroic ballad. 
The sometimes tragic and always dramatic spectacle of the hero exposing 
his life or making the most strenuous exertion to save city^ or nation is one 
of the great, if not actually the greatest, themes of literature. It is a 
spectacle to which we shall do well to respond as often as occasion arises-. 
From this ballad, our class should catch another glimpse of the spirit that 
won and held freedom for the dwellers of the Alps. It will stand as another 
illustration of the love of home and love of liberty which mark our common 
conception of mountaineers in particular, and of all brave people every¬ 
where. 

The teacher may find that two lessons will be needed for a full presenta¬ 
tion of the topic. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The poem written by Adelaide Proctor, may be found in the following: 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Johonnot: Stories of Other Lands, pp. 79-87. 

Follow" the method suggested for “Horatius at the Bridge”: 

1. Present the conditions under which the action of the story takes place 
and tell the story without the use of the poem. Here we have a later view 
of the struggle between the Swiss and the Austrians. The Swiss, as agres- 
sors, are planning to capture the Austrian-Tyrol city of Bergenz. The 
moral crisis of the story is found in the resolution of the Tyrol maiden to 
save her native city. It is the old ideal held up once more in splen'did 
action. “Blood is thicker than w T ater”; the ties of fatherland and kinship 
and early home life bind the girl to the cause of her home land. 

2. Read and interpret the poem, and excite class discussion of all its 
points. 

3. Re-read the poem smoothly and without interruption, so as to bring 1 
out its effect as a unit. 

Chalk sketch: 

The Tyrol maiden fording the Rhine; or, 

The arrival at the gates of Bergenz. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Youth’s Companion Stories: Daring Deeds. 

Baldwin: An American Book of Golden Deeds. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

12 — Bul. 10 ( 177 ) 



JOAN OF ARC 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

Joan of Arc is one of the best known characters in French history* The 
bare outline of her life and death is part of our knowledge stock in trade, 
and allusions to the events of her life, the various names by which she is 
known, scenes from her life, as interpreted in picture and many versions 
of her career as seen by historians and less technical writers, are to be met 
with at every turn. This is not to be wondered at, for her story is one that 
can not fade from the general memory as long as heroism, high devotion 
to duty, exploits bold and spectacular and yet of wonderful success, and 
final suffering and martyrdom continue to arouse the feelings of men. 
Whether historians accept or reject the details of the story as here outlined 
is of no special concern,—except to them. It is told as the world knows it 
and as the world seems likely to know it for some time to come. 

This story is specially adapted to classroom presentation because of the 
succession of striking incidents that mark its progress. Few stories can 
surpass it in its rapid sweep from climax to climax, or in the bold action 
in which it abounds. Dramatic situations are to be found sprinkled all 
through it. 

Before telling it, the teacher must get heartily in touch with the life of 
the times in which the action is placed. The increasing power of England 
in France, the disorder and confusion among the French leaders, the weak¬ 
ness and indecision of the Dauphin, the suffering and misery among the 
people: all these should be clearly seen in a succession of concrete details. 
Without such perspective the teacher can not have herself, or give to the 
children, a full appreciation of the work of the heroine. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher should be sure to read enough concerning the times and the 
work of Joan of Arc to understand her career. The following references 
are suggested, but they should be supplemented by any historical and 
literary material which the teacher may find within her reach: 

Pitman: Stories of Old France, pp. 15-54. 

Kate Carpenter: The Story of Joan of Arc for Boys and Girls. 

(Whole book.) 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, pp. 165-171. 

Mark Twain: Joan of Arc. (Whole book.) 

De Quincey: Joan of Arc. 

(178) 



Johonnot: Stories of Other Lands, pp. 51-60. 

Creasy: Decisive Battles: At Orleans. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 247- 
256. 

Guerber: Story of the English, pp. 183-186. 

Ridpath: History of the World, Vol. V, pp. 70-74. 

Lesson Unit One : How Joan Began Her Great Work. 

The story opens with the account of the life of Joan as a shepherd girl 
in the little town of Domremy. The conditions of the times should be woven 
into this part of the story. Let the description of the English conquests 
and the Dauphin’s general worthlessness be the basis for Joan’s fears for 
her country. The stories of soldiers returned from the front and the 
episode of the attack on Domremy may be used to give detailed vividness 
to existing conditions and to afford increasing stimulus to Joan’s plans. 
The voices and visions that urged her on give the account the touch of 
mystery. They may be used, also, to indicate the strength of. the super¬ 
natural in influencing the affairs of people in that day. Here should be 
given the first hint of trouble ahead for Joan because of the conflicting inter¬ 
pretations placed by her relatives and neighbors upon her claims of super¬ 
natural direction. 

The action of the story proper begins with the trip to Yaucouleurs in 
search of means to reach the Dauphin. The unit should include, also, the 
account of her successful plea for aid in her purpose, the remarkable 
journey across Prance to Chinon, the effects of her story upon those who 
heard her, the Dauphin’s miserable fears, and the astonishing way in which 
the shepherd girl won her audience with him and secured permission to 
raise an army for the relief of Orleans. 

A blackboard map of France is necessary throughout the story. It should 
show the region held by the English and the principal places mentioned in 
the progress of the narrative. (See any history of France or England.) 
The trip from Domremy to Orleans, through Vaucouleurs and Chinon, 
should be traced in bright chalk as events develop. All subsequent move¬ 
ments should be indicated in the same way. 

The wretched Dauphin makes an excellent background for the devotion 
of the heroine. He should be given the full discredit of a characterization 
based on all the weak and foolish and cowardly and selfish acts with which 
his career in the story abounds. 

Chalk sketch: 

Joan, the shepherd girl, by the fountain at Domremy. 

Lesson Unit Two : The Relief of Orleans. 

The principal events in the march to Orleans and its final relief by the 
Maid are common to all accounts of the story, and need no review here. 
Be sure to develop the more spectacular incidents as pictures for visualiza- 

( 179 ) 


tion by the class; such as, the entry of Joan into the starving city; her first 
sally from the gates when she turned a defeat into a victory; the storming 
of the bridge forts; the wounding of J oan; and her triumphal entry 
over the broken bridge. Develop the first hints of jealousy and suspicion 
among her countrymen, and bring out how her reputation as a witch grew 
to terrifying proportions among the English. Here and there throw in, by 
way of contrast, some reference to the craven Dauphin, fooling his time 
away at Chinon. The weakness and folly and indolent luxury of the 
Dauphin is well told in the interesting pictures sketched in Pitman’s 
account. 

When Joan talks with her officers, or addresses the enemy, or helps a 
wounded soldier, or directs an assault, do not fail to bring into your telling 
the crispness and realism afforded by direct discourse. 

In this unit the chance is given to give the class intelligent ideas of just 
what a fight over a walled city was like in the day w,hen gunpowder was 
just beginning to be used in competition with the catapult. A diagram 
should be used showing the city walls and gates, the bridge, the outer forts, 
the river, and the English camp. This will help to make the struggle clearer 
and more interesting. Such a diagram will be all the more valuable if it 
is drawn by the teacher during the progress of the story. In such case it 
becomes more vitally a part of the narrative, and each line and place in it is 
involved in the progress of the fortunes of the Maid. 

Whenever necessary, illustrations or hasty sketches of accessories that 
figure in the development of the story should accompany the telling. The 
figure of a drawbridge and moat, scaling ladder, fleur-de-lis, crossbow, 
city gate, etc., will be very useful in giving the children working ideas about 
things that must be understood if the situations are to be clear, and that 
in any event should be part of every well stocked knowledge fund. 

Chalk sketch: 

Sketch plan of Orleans. (See Pitman: Stories of Old France, 
p. 33.) 

Lesson Unit Three : Other Exploits; The Coronation. 

Other military successes of Joan should be briefly mentioned. Then her 
success in getting the Dauphin made King at Rheims should be worked 
out in full. All through the story the patriotic zeal of the Maid should be 
made the motive for her conduct. This attitude of unselfish devotion 
to the welfare of her country receives a striking exhibition in the request 
she made of the newly crowned king,—that since her work was done she 
should be allowed to go back to her simple peasant life in Domremy. And 
in the motives behind the king’s refusal to grant this request we have 
another cross-section of his character placed in contrast to hers. 

Chalk sketch: 

The coronation. 


( 180 ) 


Lesson Unit Four: How the Great Work Ended. 

The events leading up to her capture by her hostile countrymen should 
be treated briefly. Weakness on the part of the king, jealousy and pride 
on the part of her generals and followers, and the increasing suspicion in 
which her supernatural guidance was held were the principal factors in 
bringing her into her enemies’ hands. 

Her trial and execution should be brought out in full, for they afford an 
unfailing appeal to the best possible states of feeling. Besides they present 
a typical illustration of justice as it was then administered. De Quincey’s 
account of the trial is sufficiently harrowing and circumstantial to supply 
all the facts necessary to its dramatic presentation. No finer interpretation 
of the motives of the Maid and the motives of her prosecutors and judges 
can be found than that contained in the conclusion of De Quincey’s account 
in his remarkable apostrophe to the Bishop of Beauvais. It should be read, 
if available, by the teacher in order to strengthen her own reactions on the 
subject, and it may even be read to the class. 

The story should end with reference to the way in which the fame of the 
girl who did so much for France has grown steadily from the day of her 
death to the present time, and how the love of France and the admiration 
of all people have been the result of the great work that she performed 
for her nation. Just a short time ago the Catholic Church placed her name 
high among those of the saints. 

Chalk sketch: 

The execution of Joan. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Carpenter: The Story of Joan of Arc. 

Scott:- Quentin Durward. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

Cumulative Review. 

1. In what country was Joan of Arc born ? 

2. In what great trouble was France at that time? 

3. What strange belief did Joan of Arc have? 

4. What did she do for France? 

5. Why is she sometimes called the Maid of Orleans? 

6. What finally happened to her? 

7. Why is she now loved by the French people ? 

8. What do you most admire in her? 


(ISO 


HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM 
GHENT TO AIX. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

How They Brought Good News, by Browning, is one of the well known 
short poems of our times. More than that, it is typical of one of the stock 
situations in the literature of adventurous enterprise,—the case where the 
hero swims, or runs, or rides, or drags himself on hands and knees an almost 
impossible distance to a certain place by a certain time in order that his 
love may be rescued, or that the people in the valley below may escape the 
onrushing floods, or that the sleeping host may be warned of treachery, or, 
as in this case, that his city may be saved from an impending doom. The 
dash and swing and swift moving incident of this poem should make it a 
favorite with the class. 

The story of the poem has no foundation in historic fact. Therefore, we 
have at our disposal any occasion that imagination has to offer as a motive 
for the dash. To begin with, let us imagine that the story finds its place in 
the turbulent days of a hundred years ago when every nation of Europe 
had an army hovering about the borders of France. Do not attempt a pre¬ 
liminary explanation of the causes for the ride, for the pupils will enjoy 
suggesting causes and compairing their relative merits after the poem has 
been considered. Merely state that Aix, a Prussian city, was in danger and 
would suffer if a certain message were not brought to it without delay from 
Ghent, a city in Belgium over a hundred miles away. Then tell that the 
poem describes the desperate ride made by three messengers to bring the 
good news to Aix before it was too late. As the episode has no plot or 
complexity of incident, its action need not be detailed in advance of the 
presentation of the poem to the class. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The poem may be found in the following collections: 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Shute: Land of Song, Yol. II. 

Jones: Readers, Book VIII. 

Norton: Heart of Oak, Book Y. 

Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know. 

Read the poem and interpret its meaning as the reading progresses. 
There is no surplusage of action or description in it and every detail must 
be made clear if the moving picture of the ride is to be vivid. Do not take 

( 182 ) 



for granted that the class will understand the following words without 
explanation: postern; girths; pique; whit; askance; spume-flakes; buff- 
coat; holster; jack-boots; burgesses. Bring out the strain of the long ride: 
how the “I” of the story set the gear of his horse right for the ordeal; 
how Joris timed their progress by the steeple bell at Mecheln; how Roland 
settled down to the work as described in the fifth stanza; how Dirck’s horse, 
Roos, fell exhausted at Hasselt; how the heat of the day beat down to try 
the hearts of the two remaining riders; how the sight of the spires of Aix 
stirred them to their last dash; how Joris’ roan fell dead in sight of the 
goal; how “I,” the last hope of the enterprise, lightened his horse for the 
finish and cheered and patted it to keep up its strength; and how the horse, 
his work accomplished, received the honor due him. There is no danger that 
we will forget what is due the rider, or that we will fail to think of the 
strain that he endured in his hundred mile '‘gallop. 

Throughout the reading and interpretation, the passing of time, which 
meant so much to the riders, must be kept in mind. It was midnight, in 
the dark following moonset, that the dash began. At Lokeren, it was gray 
dawn. At Boom, the morning star appeared. At Mecheln, it was six 
o’clock, full morning, with less than half the journey completed. At 
Aerschot, the sun is seen through the thick mist of the morning. At Looz 
and Tongres, the heat of the day beats upon the messengers; and finally, 
at Dalhem, say ten miles from Aix, the dome-spire of Aix flashes into view. 
So we trace out the time of the adventure, and find that the ride of over a 
hundred miles was finished in about twelve hours: a dash truly worthy to 
be told and sung wherever stirring tales are held of account. 

When the first presentation of the poem has been completed, let the class 
suggest the various occasions which might have made such a ride necessary. 
Perhaps it was warning of an attack,—though that could hardly be called 
“good news.” Or it might have been word that an enemy had been 
defeated, and that the city need not surrender; or that reinforcements 
were coming from Ghent to aid the city against approaching attack; or 
that some common enemy, Napoleon for example, had been overthrown. 

Read the poem through again to give the class the melody and swing of 
its lines. In its measure and phrasing, no less than in its content, it is a 
gallop set to rhythmic words. There is the beat of flying hoofs in every 
line of it. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Aix in the distance; or, 

The rider and his horse entering Aix. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Scollard: Ballads of American Bravery. 

Verne: Michael Strogojf. 

Custer: Boots and Saddles. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 

( 183 ) 


SCOTCH HERO STORIES 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

Scotland has furnished its quota of hero stories to our common literary 
store. Many of these have been wrapped in novels and poems; others have 
lived by virtue of their virility without taking the brand of any great 
writer. But one way or another, the stories of Wallace, Black Douglass, 
and the Bruce have passed into the culture of English speaking people. 
Even when the traditions themselves are dim, the names still arouse our 
feelings over the struggle for Scotch liberty. They carry with them half 
forgotten suggestions of clan disorders, of feuds between highlander and 
lowlander, of resistance to English invasion, of lost and recaptured castles, 
of the eddying current of success and failure in the story of a people strug¬ 
gling into nationalism and fighting for freedom. We are conscious when we 
name theih, or hear them named, of a vague background of thrilling story 
wherein are to be found plots and counterplots, stratagem and open courage, 
selfish cunning and great-hearted nobility, treachery and loyalty, and foul 
deeds and fair all interwoven in a time-brightened legend of the borderland. 

Because they have claimed a place in our race literature they claim a 
place in' this course. They have values to yield which we do not wish to 
lose. First of all, the culture knowledge which they contain of the things 
already referred to is in them. We need to know something of Wallace and 
the others, and of the stirring times in which they lived. Their value for 
emotional culture is also to be secured. By them we shall arouse sound 
admirations, sympathies, approvals and disapprovals of the actions of men 
in situations of common human interest. In addition we have here one of 
the best opportunities in our whole course to stimulate pleasure reading. 
The stories to follow are of such compelling interest that they can hardly 
fail, in the classroom, to arouse desire for more; and more is at hand in 
abundance for the children to enjoy through their outside reading. 

We shall not attempt to render an historical account of Wallace, Douglass, 
Bruce, and the border wars. Nor shall we attempt to explain, qualify, 
expurgate, casually relate, or test by the standards of higher historical 
criticism any of the traditions which we shall relate. Much that is actually 
true will be found in them; much, also, of what the fancy and admiration 
of mankind, stimulated by splendid ideals, has wrought into them. It is 
the lore of the struggle and its heroes which has proved its fitness to live in 
the appreciations of our race; and this we shall try to bring to the hearts 
of our pupils. 


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Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher who has read some of Scott’s novels of border conflicts and 
clan disorders will be in a position of especial advantage in handling these 
stories. No one has known better than Scott, or half so well described, the 
life, moods, and customs of mediaeval and early modern Scotland. The 
background of our stories can, therefore, best be supplied by him. He tells 
us of the life of the nobles in peace and in war, of the peasants and their 
homes, of the-dress and food and daily thoughts and feelings of those old 
times. And he goes far to build up in our minds a real conception of the 
country: its valley farms and cities, its castles, its monasteries and hermits’ 
cells, its heather and crags and lakes. It will be hard indeed for us to get 
along without a mental introduction to the Scotland of old which Scott can 
give us in his Castle Dangerous, Fair Maid of Perth, and Rob Roy. These 
novels are commended to the teacher who can find time to enjoy them as 
the best basis for general preparation for telling stories of Scotland. 
Scott’s Tales of a Grandfather should be read, in any event. It will prove 
of the first value as general preparation. At the same time, it will serve 
as direct preparation for several stories to be told hereafter. Stoddard’s 
Scotland will also be of value, if the teacher has access to it. It contains 
an excellent introduction to the life and legend of the people and the 
characteristics of the country, and its illustrations may be used with effect 
in the classroom. 


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HOW WILLIAM WALLACE FOUGHT EOR SCOTLAND 


First and greatest of all Scotch heroes stands William Wallace. It was 
he, an obscure Scotch nobleman, who raised up the spirit of his countrymen 
after their conquest by Edward I. of England. To his courage and devotion 
Scotland owes her greatest debt, for he did more than any other man to 
secure for her nearly three centuries of separate existence as a nation which 
she maintained between the time of the first Edward and the time when her 
crown became united with that of England under James the First. We 
shall not try to recount all of the stories and legends that cling about his 
name. Rather, we shall select such scenes from his life as shall give the 
children an appreciation of the man at his best. Porter’s Scottish Chiefs 
will afford us the basis for our material, although we shall not hesitate to 
omit and modify parts of it when our purpose makes it desirable. 

The whole story as told by Porter should be read, and d mental outline 
of the life of the hero should be, in the teacher’s mind before the classwork 
is undertaken. 

A word as to the omissions and modifications which we shall make. 
Scottish Chiefs is crowded with minor characters who tend to make the 
plot heavy and complex when transferred literally into the classroom. 
Many of these will be left out. The element of love, romance, and intrigue 
running through the story lends it little value from our standpoint. We 
shall, therefore, introduce Helen Mar no more than is necessary to sustain 
the cues for action which she supplies, and the Countess of Mar and her 
miserable plottings will be practically omitted. The teacher should remem¬ 
ber that our story at all times is “How Wallace Fought for Scotland.” 
Every incident, each person introduced, all details, and all general move¬ 
ments as well, must be brought.into direct relation to this subject. All 
must focus upon the fortunes of Wallace as champion of his country. If 
this relation of all parts to the main point in interest is maintained, the 
cless will have no difficulty in following with unbroken interest each step 
in the progress of the story. This is, of course, the fundamental condition 
in the successful telling of any story; but here it deserves double thought, 
because the story in hand is offered to us in a form somewhat too diffuse 
and complex for class use. 

The teacher will feel from the very start that Porter’s story is one of the 
great heroic stories of our language. We may find its style somewhat 
stately, not to say stilted, when compared with current fiction; but this 
error, if error it be, lies rather on the right side. Flippancy and collo- 

( 186 ) 



quialism have no place in a story that sets out to be the prose epic of a 
nation. The genius of the author is best seen in the remarkable skill with 
which dramatic effect is found for each step in the plot. It is seen, also, in 
the way in which the character of the hero is worked out, without a false 
note, and without being rendered either mawkish or inconsistent, upon the 
highest plane of devotion to country. This wealth of dramatic incident 
and this heroic j r et altogether human character of Wallace should be 
brought out in the work of the teacher. They are of the very essence of 
success in making the story live in the hearts of its hearers. 

The teacher should find in atlas or geography a map of Scotland showing 
the border regions, Lanark, Ellerslie, Dumbarton, Stirling, Bothwell, Doug¬ 
lass, and Berwick. An outline map of southern Scotland and northern 
England should be drawn on the blackboard. Then each exploit and each 
place of interest may be filled in as the story unfolds them. The value of 
this in helping the class to follow the story and to visualize its movement 
is too apparent to need emphasis. 

It should be remembered that throughout the story the class is to be kept 
active by means of stimulating questions and points for discussion. Each' 
step in the story affords a chance for comment and speculation by the 
pupils. Surer test of the success of the work than any written examina¬ 
tion is the presence of frequent and spirited class expression during the 
progress of the story. 

Lesson Unit One : The Iron Box. 

Preface the story with a brief sketch of conditions in Scotland at the end 
of the thirteenth century, the time when the story opens. Some time before, 
two claimants had arisen to take the Scotch throne. One of them, Baliol, 
had appealed for aid to the powerful king Edward I. of England. Edward 
came and conquered the southern part of Scotland, placed Baliol upon the 
throne after making him swear allegiance to the English crown; and then 
returned home, taking both Baliol and the throne with him. Scotland was 
left an English dependency. English soldiers held the Scotch castles and 
cities, and most of the nobles of the land were so frightened that they 
swore fealty to Edward. Some of truer courage fled into the mountains 
rather than honor the wrongful claims of Edward. Among these was 
William Wallace. 

Wallace was an unimportant nobleman, but he loved his country too 
dearly to give up her freedom without fighting to the last for her rights. 
But he found himself almost alone in his desire to appeal to arms, so great 
was the fear spread among the Scots by Edward’s victories. He retired to 
his home at Ellerslie, there to wait the chance to strike a good blow for 
Scotland. It is there that we find him when the action of our story begins. 

Emphasize the following points in the events that follow: 

1. How Wallace became guardian of the iron box. The mystery surround¬ 
ing the contents of this box should be maintained until the end of the story. 


( 187 ) 


It will prove a strong element of interest, and give grounds for speculation 
by the class. 

2. How Wallace rescued two Scotchmen from death at the hands of assas¬ 
sins. Develop this incident fully to show the tyranny, confusion, and blood¬ 
shed which marked the rule of the English soldiery in Scotland. 

An excellent place to end the story is at the point when Wallace, pressed 
for his life, falls through the broken pavement. 

Chalk sketch: 

The iron box; or, 

Wallace receiving the iron box from Monteith. 

Lesson Unit Two : How Scotland Found a Leader. 

This lesson is full of the most stirring incident. Follow closely the 
account as given in Scottish Chiefs. The two crises which it contains,—the 
murder of Lady Wallace, and the vow of Wallace to devote his life to his 
country’s cause,—should be made especially strong. 

Chalk Sketch: 

Wallace’s cave behind the waterfall. 

Lesson Unit Three : The Attack on Bothwell Castle. 

Tell of Halbert ’s visit to Bothwell, the recovery and burial of the body 
of Lady Wallace, the making of the banner, the plans of Murray and Lord 
Mar to send troops to aid Wallace in his uprising. Then describe the mas¬ 
sacre of the Scottish soldiers, and the capture of Lord and Lady Mar and 
their removal to Dumbarton Castle. Leave out here and elsewhere as much 
as possible of the part played by Lady Mar. 

At the end of this lesson the class should be left in suspense as to the fate 
of Halbert, Murray, and Lady Helen. Arouse speculation as to the fate of 
the iron box. 

Chalk sketch: 

A castle to represent Bothwell. 

Lesson Unit Four : The Escape from Bothwell Castle. 

Emphasize the following points: 

1. The escape of Murray, Lady Helen, Halbert, and Grimsby, with the 
iron box, to the priory. 

2. Grimsby’s departure. lie was still true to England; but he was 
unwilling to see further wrongs done by English hands in Scotland. 

3*. The arrival of the messenger from Wallace and the ill news he brought. 

4. Murray’s expedition to his uncle to seek aid for Wallace. 

The fortunes of our principal characters are now becoming complex in 
that they are falling into varying and divergent channels. The plot of the 
story may, therefore, easily become perplexing from this point on unless 
the teacher is careful to emphasize each change in place and time, and to 

( 188 ) # 


recall frequently the circumstances under which all the important characters 
are resting. The fortunes of all important characters and the status of 
each separate thread of the story should be summarized by the class at the 
beginning and the end of each lesson. 

Chalk sketch: 

Cross-section, as imagination presents it, of the cellars and secret 
passages through which the fugitives escaped from the castle to 
the .priory. 

Lesson Unit Five: Wallace Prepares to Strike a Blow for Scotland. 

Tell in few words of the capture of Lady Helen by the faithless Scotch 
lord Soulis; and of her deliverance from him by a brave Scot. The class 
should be led to suspect, but not to know for certain as yet, that this rescuer 
was Wallace. 

Then tell of Murray’s relief expedition to Wallace’s camp; how he found 
the arrow and the dagger which told of the hero’s departure; and how he 
and Wallace joined forces in the expedition against Dumbarton Castle. 
Note carefully the introduction of Edwin into our story. He is to play 
an important part in later events. Describe the march “to Dumbarton. 
The lesson ends with Wallace and his forces concealed in the thicket near 
the castle. 

Don’t forget to use the blackboard outline map. 

Chalk sketch: 

Dumbarton Castle as the story describes it. (In Stoddard’s Scot¬ 
land, page 12, will be found a picture of Dumbarton Rock and 
Castle.) 

Lesson Unit Six : The Capture of Dumbarton Castle. 

Here we have an excellent account of an attack on a castle. It should be 
presented in detail so that it may serve as a basis for understanding similar 
exploits to be recounted more briefly hereafter. Emphasize the part played 
by Edwin. Bring out .every detail that showed the character of Wallace: 
his treatment of the treacherous De Valence, his respect for the English 
dead, his generous care of the wounded. At every step of the story the 
class should feel that it was not vengeance or adventure or honor or power 
that moved the great leader. The freedom of Scotland had become the one 
object of his life. Each success in his progress and each setback in his 
plans should be felt as a blow for or against the country for which he lived. 

In such time as is left, recount how Wallace took the Mars to a refuge on 
the Isle of Bute. The lesson ends with the news brought to Wallace of the 
massacre of the Scotch nobles at Ayr. 

Chalk sketch: 

The Scotch flag flying from the tower of Dumbarton. 


( 189 ) 


Lesson Unit Seven : The Capture of Douglass and Berwick Castles. 

Points for emphasis: 

1. Wallace’s advance to Ayr. 

2. The firing of the palace and the destruction of its inmates. 

3. The surrender of Douglass Castle. 

4. The siege and capture of Berwick. 

This lesson strengthens the character of Wallace in two respects. First, 
Wallace dealt with the enemy harshly only when severity was merited; 
and he never failed in generosity to a defeated enemy. Second, he refused 
to encourage the movement to make him king. He desired to serve, not to 
rule, Scotland. 

Chalk sketch: 

Cross-section plan of the siege operations at Berwick, showing 
wall, tower, mine, and countermine. 

Lesson Unit Eight : The Capture of Stirling and the Victory at Cambus- 
Kenneth. 

Tell with such detail as time permits how Wallace won his successes over 
the three divisions of the English army and took Stirling Castle. A diagram 
should be drawn on the board to explain the plan of the battle at the bridge. 
Show on the outline map how Scotland had now regained a strong chain 
of castles across the lowlands from sea to sea. Wallace was now urged to 
accept the crown, but refused it without hesitation. He accepted the 
regency until the rightful king should appear to claim the throne. Here 
we see the first signs of the jealousy of the great nobles, which is later to 
cause Wallace and Scotland such suffering. 

Chalk sketch: 

The battle at the bridge. 

Lesson Unit Nine: The Restoration of Peace and Prosperity to Scotland. 

Bring out the following points in the story: 

1. Wallace’s expedition along the eastern coast. 

2. The attempted assassination of Wallace by De Y a le n ce. 

3. The exchange of prisoners. 

4. The defeat of the English army led by Lord Percy. 

5. The successful expedition into northern England and the return of 
prosperity to Scotland. 

Make it plain that Wallace was fighting for peace. He looked toward the 
time when good harvests and settled peace in Scotland would keep the 
nation prosperous. 

Develop in this lesson the undercurrent of jealousy of Wallace which was 
swelling in the hearts of the proud and selfish leaders among the Scotch 
lords. 

Chalk sketch: 

Wallace’s army returning with wagon loads of provisions. 

( 190 ) 


Lesson Unit Ten : The Defeat of the English King. 

Emphasize the following: 

1. The offer made to Wallace by King Edward, and Wallace’s rejection 
of it. 

2. How Wallace spent New Year’s Eve in the cotter’s hut. 

3. How Wallace established order throughout the land. 

4. The approach of' Edward, and the treacherous plans of the jealous 
Scotch lords. 

Chalk sketch: 

The hut of the cotter. 

Lesson Unit Eleven: How Scotland Held Her Freedom, but Lost Her 
Leader. 

Emphasize the following: 

1. The fight with Edward’s host and the treachery of the Scotch nobles. 

2. The meeting of Wallace and Bruce. 

3. The night attack. 

4. The capture of Helen Mar by De Valence, and Wallace’s promise to 
rescue her. 

5. Wallace gives up the regency. 

6. Wallace sets out in disguise to visit the English court. 

Develop the strength of character of the hero with every buffet of fortune. 
Prosperity could not turn his head nor could misfortune frighten him. 
He saw that the welfare of his country demanded his relinquishment of the 
regency. Therefore, he gave it up. His next work is to bring back to Scot¬ 
land her rightful sovereign, Robert Bruce. 

Chalk sketch: 

The attack upon Edward’s tent. 

Lesson Unit Twelve : Wallace at the Court of Edward. 

At this point in the story, the Scottish Chiefs becomes largely concerned 
with the personal affairs of Wallace and Lady Helen. We shall, therefore, 
omit and condense considerable portions of the story. 

The following points should be emphasized: 

1. Wallace’s experiences as a minstrel at Edward’s court. 

2. The interview with Bruce. 

3. Wallace’s escape. 

Do not bring the queen into the story at all. Motive enough may be sug¬ 
gested for Edward’s suspicion without dragging in the motive offered in 
the story. The plans of Wallace and Bruce should be made clear: that 
Wallace was to go to France, there to be joined as soon as possible by Bruce; 
together they were to rescue Lady Helen from De Valence; all three were 
then to return to Scotland; then Bruce was to assume the Scotch crown. 

Chalk sketch: 

Wallace as a minstrel in Edward’s court. 


( 191 ) 


Lesson Unit Thirteen : The Rescue of Lady Helen. 

The following should receive emphasis: 

1. Wallace’s eventful voyage to France. 

2. The meeting of the travelers at the lonely hut. 

3. The rescue of Lady Helen and the flight to Paris. 

4. The return to Scotland. 

One work was now left for Wallace: to stem the tide of disunion and 
jealousy by placing Bruce, the rightful claimant, upon the throne of Scot¬ 
land. 

Chalk sketch: 

The fleur-de-lis,—lilies of France,—the royal emblem of the French 
king. (These were the emblems graven on the helmet which 
Wallace received as a gift of the French king.) 

Lesson Unit Fourteen: Scotland Again in Need of a Leader. 

Confusion and selfish ambition among the Scotch lords had brought evil 
results to Scotland during the few months of Wallace’s absence. Much of 
his work had to be done over again. 

Place emphasis upon the following: 

1. Conditions in Scotland as Wallace found them on his return. 

2. Wallace and Bruce, in disguise, prepare to defend Scotland. 

3. The battle at the Eske. Its climax is found when Wallace reveals 
himself to his countrymen and turns defeat into victory. 

4. Wallace goes to answer charges of treason brought against him by his 
enemies. 

There is no need to introduce Lady Mar in this closing scene of the story. 
The charges brought against Wallace may much more naturally be consid¬ 
ered as the work of the same treacherous Scotch nobles who betrayed him 
once before. 

Chalk sketch: 

Wallace on horseback revealing himself to the Scotch army. 

Lesson Unit Fifteen : Jealousy, Hatred and Greed, Against Honor. 

Briefly tell how the plot to ruin Wallace worked out before the regent’s 
assembly. Show how the mock trial brought out the character of the hero. 
Then tell how the sudden reappearance of Edward’s army aroused such 
terror that Wallace was again given the leadership of the Scotch forces. 
For the last time, Wallace defeats his country’s enemies. Recount the offers 
made by King Edward: on the one hand, high position, riches and safety 
for Wallace if he would but betray Scotland; on the other, pardon to all 
of Scotland, if her chiefs would swear allegience and betray Wallace into 
Edward’s hands. Wallace, true to his character, rejects the first; and the 
miserable nobles, true to theirs, accept the second. Trace the steps of 
Wallace in his flight. Bring out the pathos of his farewell to ruined 

( 192 ) 


Ellerslie. Here is the scene that reveals to the uttermost the price that the 
hero had paid for his country’s freedom. Tell how Edwin stayed by 
Wallace in all his evil fortune. Explain how the wounds of Bruce pre¬ 
vented him taking any part in the protection of his champion. 

Chalk sketch: 

Ruined Ellerslie. 

Lesson Unit Sixteen : The End. 

In this lesson we draw the threads of our story to a conclusion. Wallace’s 
enemies have satisfied their hatred; Edwin, his faithful friend, has lost his 
life; Wallace himself, attended by Lady Helen, lays down his life on the 
scaffold. The iron box, ill-omened first link in the tragic chain of events, 
is still hidden away, wrapped with the same mystery. 

Present in detail the parts played by Lady Helen, Gloucester, and Bruce, 
in this last chapter. The story ends with the departure of Bruce to Scot¬ 
land to claim his throne, and to secure for his people the liberty that Wal¬ 
lace had given his life to win. 

Chalk sketch: 

The scaffold; or, 

London Tower from the river. 


For Pleasure Reading. 

Porter: Scottish Chiefs. 

Scott: Tales of a Grandfather. 

Henty: In Freedom’s Cause. 

Dickens: Tale of Two Cities. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 


Cumulative Review. 

1. Who was William Wallace? 

2. What did he do for Scotland? 

3. What were the clans? 

4. Who is the hero of Porter’s novel, The Scottish Chiefs? 


13 —Bul. 10 


(193) 


HOW ROBERT BRUCE WON FREEDOM FOR 
SCOTLAND. 


Preparation and Presentation. 

In this topic we shall continue the story of Bruce to its conclusion. 
Other references will now he required to supplement Scottish Chiefs and 
the following are suggested: 

Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, pp. 76-101. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Should Know, pp. 250-273. 

Farmer: Boy’s Booh of Famous Rulers, pp. 233-265. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 114-119. 

Baldwin: Fifty Famous Stories, u Bruce and the Spider.” 

Guerber: Story of the English, pp. 143-147. 

Haaren and Poland: Famous Men of the Middle Ages, pp. 206- 
212 . 

Lesson Unit One: How Bruce Took Up the Struggle for Scottish 
Freedom. 

Bring out the following points: 

1. Bruce arrives in Scotland and raises a force to defend his country. 

2. Bruce kills the Red Comyn and takes the throne. (It should be 
remembered that this Red Comyn was the regent who caused Wallace’s 
downfall.) 

3. The English defeat the Scots. Bruce, forsaken by nearly all the great 
nobles, retreats into the wildest parts of the highlands. 

4. The spider teaches Bruce a lesson. 

Chalk sketch: 

Bruce and the spider. 

Lesson Unit Two : How the Black Douglass Helped Bruce and Scotland. 

Special references: 

Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, Chap. IX. 

Johonnot: Stories of Heroic Heeds, pp. 93-107. 

Baldwin: Fifty Famous Stories, (( Black Douglass.” 


( 194 ) 



This lesson may best be based on Tales of a Grandfather , Chap. IX. Fol¬ 
low the various exploits recounted there. 

Chalk sketch: 

Black Douglass scaling the parapet of Roxburg Castle. (See 
picture in Baldwin or Johonnot, above.) 

Lesson Unit Three: How Bruce Finished the Work Begun by Wallace. 

In this lesson the last three chapters of Scottish Chiefs may be used as 
the principal source of material. 

Tell how the efforts of Bruce brought one brave follower after another 
to the support. Recount the fall of Stirling. Then describe the battle of 
Bannockburn. A blackboard plan should be drawn for this. 

Describe the second coronation and the discovery of the contents of the 
iron box. It contained the crown, scepter and royal regalia of the Scottish 
kings. What light does the nature of its contents throw upon Wallace’s 
character ? 

Weave in the final disposition made of the body of Wallace and the death 
of Lady Helen, as told in Scottish Chiefs. 

Chalk sketch: 

Bruce before his army at Bannockburn. 

Lesson Unit Four: Review of Scotch Heroes. 

At least one day should be given to a review of these Scotch stories. 
This should be centered around certain interesting questions for class dis¬ 
cussion. The following may prove suggestive: 

1. What w^ere some of the things that made it so hard for Scotland to win 
back and keep her freedom? 

2. How did the clans help, and how did they hinder the work of freeing 
Scotland ? 

3. What was the bravest exploit in Wallace’s career? 

4. What qualities do you especially admire in Wallace? 

5. Which did more for Scotland, Wallace or Bruce? 

Illustrations from the exploits of the heroes should be brought out by 
the pupils to support their conclusions. 

At the end of the work, explain simply what the work of Wallace and 
Bruce meant to Scotland. Through their efforts Scotland asserted the 
independence that lasted through good times and bad until many years 
later England and Scotland were united under a single king. The love of 
the Scotch people for Wallace and Bruce has grown stronger and stronger 
with each passing generation. Many legends and songs have grown up 
about their names, and scores of places are honored because of them and 
their deeds. Statues and monuments have been erected in many places to 
their memories. Best known of all, perhaps, is the majestic Wallace monu- 


( 195 ) 


ment on the site of his victory at Cambus-Kenneth, near Stirling. (See 
Stoddard’s Scotland, pages 13-19.) 

Clialh sketch: 

The Wallace monument near Stirling. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Scott: Castle Dangerous. 

Churchill: Richard Carvel. 

Churchill: The Crossing. 

Churchill: The Crisis. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Tell the story of Bruce and the spider. 

2. How do the Scotch people regard the names of Wallace and Bruce? 


( 196 ) 



THE STORY OF THE ARMADA AND THE “REVENGE.” 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

Stories of the sea hold a large place in our common lore. Ever since men 
began to go down to the great waters in ships, tales of their exploits and 
hardships have held the interests of their fellows. We shall use the story 
of the Armada and the “ Revenge ” to open in part the legend and romance 
of the sea to our boys and girls. In these stories we shall find more than 
two well known tales. We shall find, as well, an introduction to that time 
of times in the making of good sea stories,—the age of Westward Ho! in 
which the sea-dogs of England won for their country the mastery of the 
oceans. These stories are crisp and fresh with the spirit of their times. 
From them we may gain an appreciation of the daring and love of adventure 
and devotion to country which have carried the English flag around the 
world. 


Preparation and Presentation. 

Lesson Unit One : The Story of the Armada. 

References: 

Hale: Stories of the Sea, Chaps. Ill, V, and VII. 

Warren: Stories from English History, pp. 229-241. 

Dickens: Child’s History of England, Chap. XXXI, Part Third. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 379-402. 

Guerber: Story of the English, pp. 244-246. 

The best single reference among the above is Hale's Stories of the Sea. 

Just enough historical connection should be introduced to give meaning 
to the stories. Tell how Spain won the gold of the New World and brought 
it home by the shipload; how the English sailed out and attacked the 
Spanish ships and robbed them of their treasure; how Drake went on his 
raid of the Spanish Main and came home loaded down with treasure; how 
Philip of Spain resolved to punish England for all this and set about 
preparing his Invincible Armada. Then tell the story of the Armada. 

Chalk sketch: 

The Armada sailing up the English Channel. 


( 397 ) 



Lesson Unit Two: The Story of the “Revenge.” 

In this lesson the story of the fight made by Grenville in his little ship 
is to be told. Hale sets forth Sir Walter Raleigh’s account of the engage¬ 
ment, upon which Tennyson’s poem is based. 

Here, as at all times, the class should be active in response to questions 
and points of interest raised by the teacher during the telling. Some of the 
more interesting points for class discussion are: 

1. Why did Lord Howard sail away? Was it right for him to do it? 

2. Why did Sir Richard remain? Was he right in risking all his men in 
order to save those sick on shore ? 

3. Why did he not escape by flight when he had the chance, after he had 
picked up his sick men? 

4. What sort of leader do you take him to have been ? What character 
of men did he command? 

5. Why did he wish the gunner to blow up the ship ? 

6. What sort of treatment did he receive at the hands of the Spanish 
after his surrender? 

Chalk sketch : 

The “Revenge” at anchor; Spanish fleet in the distance. 

Lesson Unit Three: Reading and Interpretation of Tennyson’s Poem, 
The “Revenge.” 

This poem may be found in the following collections: 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Gayley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People. 

Shute: The Land of Song, Vol. II. 

Hale: Stories of the Sea. 

After the story has made its appeal and the children have lived over in 
imagination the heroic conflict of the one with the fifty-three, then read the 
poem with such running interpretation, comment, and discussion by both 
teacher and class as a full appreciation of it demands. In almost every 
other line there is some item that will need explanation, either because the 
matter referred to is outside the appreciation of the children or because 
the form in which it is • expressed requires considerable experience with 
literature for its full understanding. There are many strange words, too, 
that must be briefly explained. The following are examples: 

Pinnace: a small swift sailing boat, often used in the days of sailing 
battle ships as a scout boat. 

Ships of the line: vessels large enough to have a place in the line of 
battle. They generally had three gun decks and carried seventy-four 
cannon. 

Ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore: three hundred vears ago 
scurvy and ship fever were common among sailors. In those days there were 
few kinds of food that would keep for the months and sometimes years that 


( 198 ) 


ships were away from home ports; and the sailors suffered many diseases, 
especially scurvy, as the result of the poor food. It was the custom for 
captains to put in to rest the worn out crew from time to lime during each 
long voyage. In this case we find that almost half of Sir Richard’s crew 
are sick. 

Bideford and Devon: once the front door of England, the home of her 
most daring sailors, and the seat of a wide commerce. It was the sea-dogs 
of Bideford and Devon who gave to England her mastery of the seas. 

Inquisition dogs : The English thought of all Spaniards as friends of the 
Inquisition. 

Divildoms: a reference to the tortures which the Inquisition sometimes 
inflicted upon those accused of heresy. As the English and the Spanish 
hated each other with all the hate that could be stirred up in bitterest of 
conflicts, there is no doubt that Sir Richard had good reason to suspect what 
would be done to his sick men if he should have abandoned them to the 
Spaniards. 

Thumbscrew : an instrument by which the joints of the hands or other 
portions of the body were crushed either as punishment or to extort con¬ 
fession. 

Sea-castles : Show the class a picture of the high built Spanish galleons. 

Heaving: here, the rise and fall of the ships as the ocean swell passed 
under them. 

WeUtlier-bow : the windward side of the bow. 

Don: the title of a Spanish nobleman or gentleman. 

Tiers of guns: It was not uncommon for the Spanish galleons to carry 
five and even six gun decks, one above the other, at the bow and the stern 
of the vessel. 

Larboard; starboard: left and right, respectively. 

Grisly : ghastly; terrible. 

He had left the deck: In those days the commander fought his ship from 
the quarter deck, where he stood exposed to the force of the enemies ’ fire. 

Masts and rigging lying over the side: The Spanish shot had cut down 
the masts and rigging, and it lay in a tangled mass over the side of the 
11 Revenge” 

Master gunner: the man in charge of a gun or a group of guns. 

Stately Spanish men; courtly foreign grace: The Spanish were character¬ 
ized by the courtesy and grace of their bearing. They prove themselves in 
this case gracious in their action as well as their manner. 

Caught at last: Old Sir Richard had led the Spanish many*a merry chase 
in the years before. 

Sank his body: burial at sea. 

Longed for her own: The poet implies that the “Revenge” was discon¬ 
tented without her English crew and wished to join them deep down in 
the sea. 

Lands they had ruined: the New World. 


( 199 ) 


And or ever: and before. 

Island crags: The Azores are mere mountain peaks sticking up above 
the Atlantic. 

When the reading and discussion is finished, re-read the whole poem 
without interruption. It will take two or three days to complete the work 
outlined under this lesson unit. 

Chalk sketch: 

The “Revenge” in action with the “San Philippe.” 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Hale: Stories of the Sea. 

Defoe: Robinson Crusoe. 

Slocum: Around the World in the Sloop Spray. 

Marryat: Masterman Ready. 

Stevenson: Treasure Island. 

Kipling: Captains Courageous. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Tell the story of the Spanish Armada. 

2. Tell the story of the “Revenge.” 


(200) 


THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE AND THE 
STORY OE THE RED CROSS SOCIETY. 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

No other poem by Tennyson seems to have been printed and reprinted, 
read and memorized and generally absorbed by mankind at large, to such an 
extent as has his Charge of the Light Brigade . The incident which it honors 
has become a part of our world knowledge, and the emotions which it arouses 
have won themselves a place in our common culture. 

Besides the easily aroused feeling of admiration for physical courage, 
the higher, nobler admiration of fidelity to duty should be stimulated in 
our classroom use of the poem. Here we find courage spiritualized and 
ennobled by the motive behind it,—unswerving loyalty to duty: the soldier’s 
duty which stands not to palter or question or evade, but which drives 
straight at the mark. 

Out of the horrors of the Crimean war grew the movement which resulted 
in the formation of the Red Cross Society. We shall take this occasion to 
tell the story of that society and to develop in the children attitudes of mind 
and heart in sympathy with its great cause. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The following references will aid in supplying the general conditions 
under which the Crimean War and the charge of the Light Brigade took 
place: 

Warren: Stories from English History , pp. 423-426. 

Church: Stories from English History, pp. 644-656. 

Blaisdell: Stories from English History, pp. 175-178. 

The poem may be found in the following and in almost every other collec¬ 
tion of English poetry: 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Cayley and Flaherty: Poetry of the People. 

Shute: Land of Song, Yol. II. 

Burt: Poems Every Child Should Know. 

Lesson Unit One: The Charge of the Light Brigade. 

There is no need to go into a minute discussion of the Crimean War, its 
causes and consequences, or to dig into the ins and outs of the Eastern 
Question which involved it. It is necessary, however, to bring before the 
class a clear expansion of the following important facts: 

( 201 ) 


Russia and England were at war. Russia wanted to conquer Turkey, a 
weak and miserable nation, in order to get the strong city of Constantinople. 
England said, “No!” and sent ships and soldiers to bacii up the denial. 
The war was fought out in the Crimea, a peninsula on the northern coast 
of the Black Sea. It was a stubborn war. Russia was on her own soil and 
had a large army; but her troops were poorly trained and equipped. The 
English, on the other hand, were far from home. They suffered from lack 
of supplies,—food, clothing, shelter, and medical stores. Besides, they had 
to attack the Russians in their forts and strongholds. 

With this introduction, we are ready to take up the story of the charge. 
First, describe the conditions under which it took place. 

The Russians occupied the crest of low hills surrounding a long, narrow 
valley at the lower end of which the English were marshaled. An order 
was brought to the commander of a small brigade of light horsemen, some 
six hundred in number. The order should have read, “Hold the guns” 
(meaning the cannon in possession of the English) “at all costs.” Instead, 
it said, “Take the guns at all costs.” To charge the Russian host meant 
the destruction of the brigade; and of course it was impossible for so few 
men to take and hold the Russian guns. But a good soldier does not ques¬ 
tion an order and the Light Brigade did not think of disobedience. In a 
twinkling the bugle sounded, sabres flashed, and the charge began: six hun¬ 
dred men on horseback against twenty-five thousand enemies well protected 
by earthworks and the fire of their cannon. The soldiers knew that it was 
a mistake. But they knew also that obedience to an order is the soldier’s 
highest duty and they did not hang back. Their wonderful charge has been 
worth more to England than any victory, for it has been an example for 
her armies ever since. It stands as one of the best hero stories that we have. 
Every one knows how the Light Brigade dashed up the valley sides, drove 
the astonished Russians from their guns and then, the mere handful of them 
alive and able to sit their horses, galloped back to the English lines. 

A blackboard plan of the valley and the charge should be used to make 
the story clear. 

After the story of the charge has been told, take up the poem and read 
it to the class. Interpret it where necessary, and arouse comment and dis¬ 
cussion at every available point. The preliminary telling will have aroused 
interest and intelligence, so that it will be easy to keep the class in a state of 
active response to the various points as they develop. 

The following opportunities for such activity are specially evident: 

1. Why is the valley called the Valley of Death? 

2. Who said, “Charge for the guns”? 

3. What would happen if soldiers stopped to consider the orders which 
they receive? 

4. Tell what the blunder was. 

5. What picture do you get of the valley from the third stanza? 

6. Why do we “honor the charge they made”? 


(202) 


7. How . would a nation rank in arms which had such soldiers to fight 
for it ¥ 

After the children have had time for comment upon the heroism of the 
Light Brigade read the poem through again without interruption and with 
as much expression as possible. Let the class compare the heroism of the 
Light Brigade with that of the Spartans at Thermopylae. 

. Chalk sketch: 

Plan of valley up which the charge was made. 

Lesson Unit Two : The Story of the Red Cross Society. 

In this lesson our purpose is to give the class an appreciation of the 
character of the world’s greatest altruistic enterprise. We shall begin by 
making as clear as possible some of the conditions that gave it being. 

War is a terrible thing at best, but the Crimean War was one long horror. 
Thousands of men died in battle, and that was to have been expected; but 
many thousands more died of sickness and hunger and cold. News of the 
suffering in the Crimean camps came to England while the war was in 
progress. Terrible stories, most of them true, were spread about concern¬ 
ing the needless suffering and loss of life in the army at the front. So 
shocking were the conditions that every one desired to do something to help 
the soldiers. Funds were raised from private gifts to buy medicines, 
hospital supplies, clothing, and food. 

Shiploads of supplies w r ere sent at once to the Crimea. On these ships 
went, also, many brave women who gave up their homes and quiet, easy 
times to go to nurse sick and wounded soldiers on a battlefield. Noblest of 
all of these was Florence Nightingale, an English woman of wealth and high 
social position, who gave up everything else that she might lead the nurses 
in the work of caring for the army. 

After the war, when people had time to think of its horrors and to mourn 
those who did not come back, a great society was formed in England. Its 
purpose was to care for the sick and wounded who came home by the thou¬ 
sands at the end of the war. Besides, the society had the idea that it would 
care for all who might be suffering in the event of another war at some 
future time. It came to be called the Red Cross Society, for its sign or 
emblem was, and still is, a red cross on a white field. In a short time the 
society spread to America. Soon it had organizations all over Europe. 
Now it has branches in every civilized land. Hundreds of thousands of 
people belong to it. Every one respects it and is willing to help it along. 
Its work is to care for the helpless; to hold out a hand to all those who would 
suffer and die without its aid. It handles great sums of money. An army 
of unselfish men and women give their lives to its work. It has more power 
and does more good than many a king sitting on his throne. 

Years ago it began to care for others besides those suffering from the hard¬ 
ships of war. Is there a plague in India? Then, there you will find the 
tents and hospitals of the Red Cross Society. There you will see the nurses 


( 203 ) 


in their white gowns, each with a red cross on her sleeve, caring for the 
sick and trying in every way to keep the rest from getting sick. 

Is there a famine in Russia or an earthquake in Sicily? Again yon will 
find the Red Cross with food and clothing and doctors and help of all sorts 
for all who are hungry or cold or sick or about to give up. When our own 
city, San Francisco, was almost destroyed by fire, the Red Cross Society sent 
millions of dollars and whole trainloads of food and clothing for the people 
who had lost everything. 

No one can count the lives it has saved, or say how many suffering men and 
women and little children it has help’ed. Besides it has made all the world 
think more and more about the horrors of war. The more we think of the 
■work of the Red Cross Society, the more w T e come to hate the sorry business 
that makes men march out to shoot one another. We do not rejoice now 
when war comes and men on horseback are sent out to trample their enemies 
down on the battlefield. The Red Cross is helping to bring about the time 
to come when there will be no more war; when nations will have a great 
court of peace to which they can carry all their quarrels,. When that time 
comes no one will have to leave his farm or his work bench to leainThow to 
kill other men in battle. So we honor the Red Cross Society; and we honor 
Florence Nightingale and those other brave women and those great hearted 
men who started it. We are glad that such a good result, this great society, 
came from the bloody fighting and the fever stricken camps of the Crimean 
War. 

Chalk sketch: 

The symbol of the society: a red cross on.a white field. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. In what war was the charge of the Light Brigade actually made. 

2. Who wrote “The Charge of the Light Brigade”? 

3. What is the Red Cross Society? 

4. Who was Florence Nightingale? 

5. On what occasion was San Francisco helped by the Red Cross Society ? 


(204) 


THE BATTLE OE BLENHEIM 


General Comments and Suggestions. 

This poem by Southey has long been a quiet favorite, and the strength of 
its popularity is bound to increase as time goes on. Its call is to the people 
of the coming generations more than to ours, for it seeks to arouse feel¬ 
ings and attitudes just beginning to be strongly felt among civilized people. 
Its cry is the rising voice of humanity: the protest against the senseless 
slaughter of war. 

Children of the seventh and eighth grades will have no difficulty in catch¬ 
ing its message. They will not catch it all, of course, but the poem will 
have made its place in their appreciations so that they will read it again 
in later years and with more mature understanding. The essence of a good 
poem is that it should arouse a fuller emotional response and a deeper view 
of its meaning each time it is presented to us. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The poem may be found in the following collections: 

Montgomery: Heroic Ballads. 

Shute: The Land of Song, Yol. I. 

Begin the work with a survey of the times in western Europe two or three 
centuries ago. Tell of the scourge of wars, following one another in rapid 
succession, which swept the country. Show how it was that the nations 
fought almost continually throughout France, Germany, and especially in 
the debatable land between. In those days, there were scores^ of little 
countries, each with its army, where Germany now is, and it was rare, 
indeed, when two or more of them were not busily engaged fighting. The 
farmers had a hard time. Sometimes they were forced to leave their homes 
at harvest time to fight for their lord or king. More often still their fields 
were ravaged and their houses destroyed by the hosts of savage soldiers 
who burned and pillaged their way through the land. And at all times they 
bore the crushing taxes that supported the armies in the field. Millions of 
young men, and older ones as well, were left dead upon the battlefield. In 
Napoleon’s wars alone it is said that six million were slain. Thousands of 
homes were destroyed. Little children and helpless women were sometimes 
actually slain, but more often were left to perish from the hunger and cold 


( 205 ) 



of the winter time with their fathers and husbands dead upon the battle¬ 
fields. 

Nowadays, as the tourist goes throngh Europe, all seems to be peace and 
safety. But the guide will show at times blood stains on old stone floors, 
scars upon towers and walls made by flying bullets and the shot of cannon; 
and in the crowded city streets he will point out the statues of men on 
horseback, the men who led to the butcheries of a hundred years ago. And 
sometimes in quiet orchards or in the woods there may be found long low 
mounds and trees with twisted branches and scarred trunks that tell the 
story of some fearful struggle of the past. 

Then tell of the way in which we are coming to look at war. We are 
beginning to see its waste. Men are too valuable to destroy. The prosperity 
of a country can not be kept safe save through peace. We are beginning 
to believe that thrift and education and honesty are worth more to a nation 
than all the guns that ever were made. We are willing to look forward to 
a day soon to be realized when nations will do what men have long since 
done,—arrange their quarrels in some court instead of fighting them out 
with swords and gunpowder. We are beginning to understand that it is 
do credit for a big nation to destroy a weaker one, and that disputes are 
not fairly settled between nations when armies fight them out. 

Tell the class that Blenheim is one of the little towns that has seen much 
of the horrors of war. Old men there can still tell of fighting, and fifty 
years ago every grandfather could point to his weapons upon the wall and 
recount thrilling adventures of the battle field. Our poem tells us how one 
of these old men told of the wars that swept about his little home while he 
was a child. 

Make clear the following by full interpretation during the first reading 
of the poem: 

1. The peaceful scene described in the first two stanzas— 

“It was a summer’s evening, Old Caspar’s work was done.” 

Give the class a mental picture of the summer’s evening, with old Caspar 
sitting before his door, smoking a pipe, perhaps, and resting in the cool 
evening sunshine after his day’s work. Perhaps he was thinking how 
pleasant it is to have a comfortable home and to see children playing about 
it. There was nothing to disturb him. 

2. Emphasize and let the class discuss the horrors of the war as he 
describes them. Bring out the “famous victory” phrase in a way to give 
it the force of irony in contrast with the suffering and destruction described. 

3. Make clear the pith of comment of little Wilhelmine, “Why, ’tw'as a 
very wicked thing!” and the question of Peterkin, “But, what good came 
of it at last?” Here is the point of the poem, and it must not be missed: 
the old man thought of war as something to be blindly admired; the chil¬ 
dren, shocked by the loss and suffering and death that it brought, saw it 
as a fearful thing. The pupils should be induced to decide with Wil¬ 
helmine and Peterkin. They should be made to feel the horror and suffer- 


(20G) 


ing of warfare. Especially should they develop strong attitudes toward 
senseless war: war for the glory of a great general, or for the pride of some 
ruler, or to gratify savage desires to take the possessions of another. 

Give the class time for as much discussion as it may be possible to develop 
under-the stimulus of suggestive questions. Then read the whole poem 
through again, bringing out its meaning with all the beauty and force that 
the author has put into it. 

Finally, if the work has been a success and class interest been thoroughly 
aroused, place the whole poem before the children for competitive memoriza¬ 
tion and recitation. 

Chalk sketch: 

Old Caspar before his cottage; or, 

The burning village. 

For Pleasure Reading. 

Shute: The Land of Song. 

Price: Lads and Lassies of Other Days. 

(See, also, pleasure reading reference lists, pages 46-47.) 


(207) 
















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